Grid Optimization AI Is the Critical Operations Layer

BNEF's New Energy Outlook 2026 (published May 19) puts a sharp number on AI-driven load growth: global data centre capacity hit 84 GW in 2025, consuming 500 TWh — a 20% year-on-year jump — and BNEF projects that doubles to 1,114 TWh by 2050. That trajectory means data centres alone account for ~3.6% of global electricity demand at mid-century. Paired with the finding that solar becomes the world's single largest electricity source within six years, this frames a structural demand-pull on grid infrastructure that extends well beyond the current AI-hype cycle. The investment implication is that grid hardening, storage co-location, and dispatchable firming capacity proximate to compute clusters will be a multi-decade capital deployment theme — and the cost of capital for those assets will be set, in part, by how quickly interconnect queues clear. Source