After years of falling power consumption across Europe, several of the region’s top economies are recording rising electricity usage in a structural shift that is expected to accelerate as industries move away from fossil fuels. The turnaround follows a long period marked by weaker industrial activity, higher energy prices that curbed demand, and efficiency measures designed to cut emissions. Today, as businesses and consumers increasingly rely on the electrical grid to power air conditioners, electric vehicles, and data centers, a new era of power demand growth is emerging.
Data compiled by research group BloombergNEF indicates rising electricity demand in most months over the past year across major European economies, including Germany, Italy, and Spain, after adjusting for weather variations. A broader trend of continuous demand growth across the European Union is also supported by figures from the energy think tank Ember, which noted that September marked the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year power demand growth—the longest such streak since at least 2018. This reverses a broader historical decline that saw the EU’s power demand fall by roughly 9% over the 15-year period through 2023.
While this growth rate lags behind the artificial intelligence-driven surge seen in the United States, it represents a fundamental pivot. Per Lekander, chief executive officer of the London-based hedge fund Clean Energy Transition LLP, noted that a growing share of energy use is shifting to electricity. He stated that even if overall energy demand decreases, electricity demand is moving upward in a trend that is unstoppable and projected to continue for decades.
Driving this expansion are multiple factors acting in different proportions depending on the development level of each economy, according to Ember energy strategist Kingsmill Bond. Alongside air conditioning and the proliferation of electric vehicles, data centers are slated to become significantly larger power consumers as infrastructure expansion accelerates. Markets benefiting from cheap, low-carbon power, such as Finland and Spain, are anticipated to experience a boom in data center development. According to BloombergNEF projections, the power capacity of European data centers is expected to double to more than 30 gigawatts by 2032 before expanding to approximately 39 gigawatts by 2035.
Despite these rising figures, Europe’s overall power consumption remains well below historical peaks, dampened by weakened industrial activity in major manufacturing nations like Germany. Additional vulnerability stems from energy markets, as benchmark European gas futures have climbed to their highest levels since 2022. Exports from the Persian Gulf, which accounted for approximately a fifth of global supply last year, remain disrupted by the ongoing Iran conflict. With the continent’s winter gas inventories at seasonal lows, the market remains exposed to potential price spikes that could elevate the cost of generating electricity when heating demand peaks.
At the same time, geopolitical instability is prompting countries and businesses to reevaluate energy import dependencies. Bond pointed out that nervousness regarding energy security is accelerating electrification efforts as nations seek alternatives to imported oil and natural gas.
While rising power consumption could stimulate investment in new wind and solar energy projects needed to satisfy demand, it also threatens to exacerbate existing infrastructure bottlenecks. Europe’s electrical grid is already struggling to accommodate the rapid integration of new renewable generation capacity, and a sustained surge in consumption will place additional strain on delivery networks that require urgent expansion to ensure power reaches where it is needed.
