China’s green power push for AI data centres faces major challenges

China’s ambition to power its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector with renewable energy is running into significant technical and structural hurdles, according to Reuters.

The country has made integrating clean energy with computing infrastructure a strategic priority, with officials aiming to significantly increase the share of renewable electricity used by data centres as demand for AI workloads accelerates.

Under current plans, authorities want renewables to supply around four-fifths of data centre electricity consumption by 2030, a sharp rise from just 11% in 2023, as part of broader efforts to cut emissions from the fast-growing digital economy.

However, experts say the sector is proving difficult to align with green power supply due to the unpredictable nature of peak electricity demand from AI computing clusters.

Unlike industries such as aluminium smelting, where energy use is relatively steady, AI data centres experience fluctuating and hard-to-forecast loads driven by intensive GPU usage and rapidly scaling workloads.

“From what we understand, they cannot really adjust power consumption load much,” said Pei Shanpeng, a director at State Power Investment Corp, noting that operators aim to maximise GPU usage once equipment is deployed due to high costs.

Experts also warn that increased reliance on direct renewable energy connections could face resistance from grid operators, who are concerned about reduced electricity sales and challenges in recovering infrastructure investment costs.

Grid stability is another concern, with China’s fast-growing data centre sector already placing increasing strain on regional power systems as both peak and average loads continue to rise.

“If 15% of the power consumption loads can be adjusted, it will significantly reduce capacity expansion pressure on the grid over the next three to five years,” said Wang Zelin of the State Grid Jibei Electric Power Research Institute.

Despite these challenges, policymakers continue to push for deeper integration between renewable energy supply and AI computing demand, framing the effort as a long-term strategy to reduce emissions while supporting technological growth.