China: 170 billion kWh for data centres and a first power consumption index

Energy has become a central variable in Chinese computing policy. At a forum on modern power systems held on 21-23 September, the China Electricity Council (CEC) published its first nationwide index of electricity consumption by data centres. The index is meant to show how the growth of digital infrastructure is reshaping demand for power.

The numbers that frame the picture

CEC vice chairman Yang Kun said Chinese data centres used 170 billion kWh of electricity in 2025. China ranks second in the world by computing capacity. In eight national computing hubs, capacity grew by an average of 40 percent a year over the past three years. Yang Kun also acknowledged that the mechanism for linking the growth of computing with the power sector is not yet complete, and that some business scenarios have no repeatable solutions.

The phrase "coordination of computing and energy" appeared in the government work report for the first time this year. Planning data centres is no longer a task for the digital industry alone.

The grid under load

The scale of investment shows up in the plans of the transmission operator. State Grid chairman Zhang Zhigang said the company will spend 4 trillion yuan on fixed-asset investment under its "15th Five-Year Plan", and will exceed 700 billion yuan this year. The grid is to move from one-way supply to two-way exchange between the main grid, distribution networks and micro-installations. The plan includes commissioning more than 15 high-voltage direct current lines, bringing the total to more than 35 such links and interprovincial transmission capacity of 500 GW.

Electrification is treated here as a measure of civilisation. According to CEC data, China's electrification rate was about 29.5 percent in 2025, 1.4 percentage points more than a year earlier, and is to reach 35 percent by 2030.

The industry view

The dispute over energy for AI also has a global dimension. In an interview with CBS News, discussed by the portal Guancha, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang called next-generation data centres "AI factories" and argued that building this infrastructure could become a chance to reindustrialise the United States. Huang also opposed giving up the Chinese market, saying American companies should win through competition, not restrictions. Chinese indexes and American AI factories describe the same problem from two sides: energy is becoming more abundant, but what decides is not its quantity, but who manages to connect to the grid in time.

The scale of the energy plans matters as much as the consumption data. The State Grid chairman spoke of 4 trillion yuan of investment over five years and of more than 700 billion yuan this year, of ultimately more than 35 high-voltage direct current transmission lines and of 500 gigawatts of interprovincial transmission capacity. The electrification rate of final energy consumption is to rise from about 29.5 percent in 2025 to 35 percent in 2030.

China's answer to the energy challenge of AI is therefore not only technical, but also institutional. Putting "computing-energy" coordination into the government report, a shared power consumption index for data centres and a declaration by the grid investor create a framework in which computing capacity is planned together with the grid, rather than added to it after the fact.