March 25, 2025 • 4 min read
Energy transition to energy addition: AI’s rising demand
Following CERAWeek 2025, Worley Consulting President Fabricio Sousa discusses how gas and renewable energy projects are desperately needed to meet the exponential growth of the AI industry.
Last year’s CERAWeek forum focused on renewables and the energy transition. This year, among the big issues confronting the more than 450 C‑suite executives and 10,000 attendees was how energy suppliers would support power-hungry AI data centers.
“It’s less of an energy transition discussion, more of an energy addition discussion,” says Fabricio Sousa, President of Worley Consulting.
Over the next three to five years, about 15 percent of energy in the US alone will power data centers1. “At a global scale, within five years it’s expected the additional power needed just for data centers is around the full power consumption of Japan.”
Consider that large businesses around the world have, so far, only migrated about 20 percent of their data to the cloud2. An increase to 40 percent or 50 percent would require a staggering amount of energy.
“The impact of the rapid adoption of AI and acceleration in energy demand is likely to surprise many people.”
Can energy giants run faster?
Leaps in AI processing speed and efficiency are expected, with major cloud provider AWS sharing news it’s working on a chip with five times more processing speed that will use 60 percent less power than today’s best chip.
“Although there is a massive energy sourcing challenge ahead, it’s exciting to see many organizations developing solutions. The technology giants that provide the hardware and services to facilitate AI are on a sprint to get any electron they can to power that,” Sousa said. “Thankfully, the energy generation and infrastructure space has long been on a marathon pace – but now they may need to speed up.”
Every source is needed
Sousa sensed mixed feelings among CERAWeek delegates about how the current political climate will affect business. Volatility delays investments, but the US gas sector seems encouraged. “The new administration is helping accelerate gas in the US. Then, the world will need to catch up to make sure it doesn’t fall behind.”
Discussion about decarbonization of global energy has often hinged on the relationship between traditional and transitional sources – including coal, oil and gas – and renewables.
At CERAWeek, Sousa described a ‘healthy tension’ in discussions around different sources as demand for all energy sources is forecast to grow.
“There was a very strong narrative around energy transition, but it is more about energy expansion – which means every source will be needed,” he said.
As global energy demand continues to grow, traditional, transitional and sustainable options need to be considered.
Sousa said gas will increasingly be used as a transition fuel over the next five to 10 years while new supplies of renewables are developed, and some traditional sources continue to be used to meet demand.
For all options, every decision must be carefully measured against security, sustainability and affordability, and the expectations of investors, businesses, governments, communities and consumers.
Carbon capture in the wings
Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) has triggered interest as a solution, and Sousa is optimistic about the technology.
“CCUS needs wide shoulders to drive it forward, with the finance mechanisms to make it happen,” he said. “The market needs some level of disruption to move faster, but at the same time, more certainty to fuel investment in the right places.”
The possibilities for CCUS are intriguing, with some exploring options for using captured CO2 as feedstock for low carbon fuels or for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Some North American jurisdictions allow for the generation of carbon credits when captured CO2 is used for low carbon fuels production. Also in the US, tax credits are available when captured CO2 is used for EOR. Currently, methodologies exist or are under development that may allow EOR to generate credits on the voluntary carbon markets as well.
How we’re meeting the challenge
In a near future where more sources of energy are tapped, optimal solutions for transmission, pipelines, liquefaction and all other infrastructure will be vital.
“That’s exactly the place we play in,” Sousa said. “Our teams have challenging work ahead of them, matching very strong supply of energy with growing demand in a sustainable way.”
“More power is needed from every single source – and our teams are working on everything that happens in between. We help our customers solve that problem the most efficient way – the fastest way – because whoever moves faster with the lowest cost will be ahead of the curve.”
1 “DOE Releases New Report Evaluating Increase in Electricity Demand from Data Centers.” 2024. Energy.gov. December 20, 2024. https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-new-report-evaluating-increase-electricity-demand-data-centers?utm_source=chatgpt.com
2 Keaveney, Bob. 2024. “Many Businesses Are Nearing the Completion of Their Cloud Migrations.” Technology Solutions That Drive Business. 2024. https://biztechmagazine.com/article/2024/10/many-businesses-are-nearing-completion-their-cloud-migrations
