WEF says MENA needs 40% more electricity capacity by 2030, urges AI data centre overhaul

The World Economic Forum is urging governments across the Middle East and North Africa to classify artificial-intelligence data centres as critical loads and revise electricity planning. The recommendation addresses the facilities’ power requirements and fluctuating demand, according to ET Now, which reported the WEF’s proposals and figures.

The WEF calls for the facilities to be treated as “critical dynamic loads.” It recommends that governments distinguish AI data centres from conventional industrial and commercial electricity consumers, citing their high power needs and changing demand. The report frames the classification as part of a wider adjustment to electricity planning as demand rises.

The report says MENA’s electricity capacity needs to increase by 40 per cent by 2030. It also compares the electricity use of AI server racks with traditional web workloads: AI racks consume between 30 and 100 kilowatts, against 3–10 kilowatts for traditional workloads, according to the figures reported by ET Now.

Cooling is another substantial part of the facilities’ electricity use. The report puts cooling’s share at more than 40 per cent of electricity consumption at data centres in MENA. That figure accompanies the WEF’s call for governments to account for AI data centres in their power planning, rather than treating them like conventional commercial or industrial users.

The WEF also points to behind-the-meter electricity generation as a way to reduce data centres’ dependence on utility grid connections. It says this approach could accelerate deployment by 12–36 months. The report presents the timeframe as a potential effect of reducing reliance on grid connections, not as a confirmed result of projects already completed.

The recommendations and figures are attributed to the WEF report in ET Now’s account. The report’s stated focus is regional: classify AI data centres as critical loads, plan for their power requirements and changing demand, and consider generation located behind the meter.

The article does not describe a government decision adopting those recommendations; it reports them as proposals from the WEF.