Data centers in Switzerland - Electricity consumption and efficiency potential
With the continuing digitalization of households and companies and the emergence of new applications—particularly in the field of artificial intelligence—the need for data processing, communication, and storage is increasing rapidly. The dynamics in the data center sector are correspondingly high.
On behalf of EnergieSchweiz, a program of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), TEP Energy, in collaboration with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Willers, conducted an extensive survey of companies and data centres. The aim is to analyse developments in Switzerland’s digital infrastructure and their energy-related impacts.
The study updates the data basis and provides findings relevant to energy policy.
As part of the study, the following data collection and analyses were conducted:
- Collection of current data on the electricity consumption of data centres in Switzerland, differentiated by category: data centres, hyperscalers, and colocation data centres.
In 2024, Switzerland’s data centres consumed just under 2.1 TWh of electricity, corresponding to approximately 3.6 percent of total electricity consumption. By 2030, electricity consumption by domestic data centres is expected to rise to 2.5 to 3.2 TWh. Consumption therefore increased by +18% between the last study in 2019 and 2024. - Assessment of the energy efficiency potential already exploited and the remaining potential, broken down into IT-side and infrastructure-side potential and by data centre category.
The remaining energy efficiency potential is estimated at around 0.78 TWh. The relative efficiency potential is 38% and therefore remains high, even though many infrastructure measures have already been implemented. - Analysis of developments in the Swiss data centre market and its relevant context, such as legal frameworks, industry initiatives, demand-side trends (for example expansions and relocations), and new requirements—particularly in connection with artificial intelligence. International developments are also taken into account.
Artificial intelligence (AI) currently plays a subordinate role in Switzerland from an energy perspective. Large-scale model training hardly takes place domestically. The increase in commercial data centres is driven primarily by the migration from internal data centres to colocation data centres and the cloud, which allows stabilization or even a slight reduction in company-internal data centres. - Further insights are obtained through interviews with experts and stakeholders. These interviews are intended to address particularly important current and future developments, especially the drivers of past and future electricity demand by data centres, as well as the influence of energy efficiency and artificial intelligence on current and future electricity demand by data centres.
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