The artificial intelligence (AI) will represent 5 % of the total electricity consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2035, an energy demand that could compete with priority sectors, as the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) warned on Tuesday.
According to a technical document prepared by the OLADE, this 5 % is equivalent to more than 120 Teravatos Hora (TWH) annual, which demonstrates the high energy impact that the accelerated development of this technology will have in the region.
The organization indicates that there are currently 455 data processing centers for AI applications in Latin America and the Caribbean.
If an average consumption of 50 gigawatts (GWh) per center per year is considered, it estimates that in 2023 these facilities already represented 1.6 % of regional electrical consumption.
Between 2023 and 2030, an accelerated growth of 165 % is projected in the number of data centers globally, which represents an average annual rate of 15 %.
“Under that same rhythm of expansion, the region will experience an unprecedented energy demand associated with the functioning of AI servers, especially in critical areas such as algorithms training, the execution of consultations and the complex cooling systems necessary to maintain operability,” said the Olade.
For the executive secretary of the OLADE, the Chilean Andrés Rebolledo, the digital transformation of the productive systems “must go hand in hand with a responsible and sustainable energy planning”, since artificial intelligence “could compete for energy resources with priority sectors such as residential, industrial or transport.”
The organization pointed out that, with the exponential growth of the data and the expansion of generative artificial intelligence, it is important that the countries of the region strengthen their regulatory frameworks, improve the energy efficiency of their data centers and continue betting on renewable sources that cushion the environmental impact of technological progress.
The OLADE, based in Quito, is an agency of cooperation, coordination and technical advice of a public and intergovernmental nature, which since 1973 seeks to promote the integration, conservation, rational use, commercialization and defense of the energy resources of the region.
This organization is made up of Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Peru, Dominican Republic, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.