Doha, August 19 (QNA) - Data centers are growing into one of the drivers of growing global demand for electricity, pushed by the rapid expansion in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services.

These utilities require substantial quantities of power around the clock, unlocking new prospects for the gas industry.

As these facilities are clamoring for more needs, the need increases as well for electricity sources that are reliable and capable of meeting the constant demand, thereby strengthening the role of natural gas as one of the most important flexible generation sources that can support networks in parallel with expansion in renewable energy.

Speaking exclusively to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Nayef Al Nabet, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Council on International Affairs, specializing in AI governance, says these centers require uninterrupted energy, noting that while there have recently been estimations about an anticipated surplus in the LNG market with the entry of new production capacities, talks are now focused on the possibility of a declining surplus due to computing-related demand.

He added that those who provide energy are no longer merely parties to discussions over prices but have become players in the debate over technical capabilities, which was once confined to those who controlled chips and models.

Gas-rich countries, meanwhile, have gone beyond their role as suppliers and moved toward direct investment in computing infrastructure, Al Nabet added.

For his part, Mohammed Alam, an information and communications technology (ICT) expert, told QNA that data centers are no longer merely supporting technical infrastructure; they have become the backbone of the digital economy, underpinning government, financial and healthcare services.

  As reliance on AI expands, the need for intensive computing capabilities operating around the clock has grown, driving up electricity demand, Alam contended.

Alam noted that the latest estimates by the International Energy Agency indicate that global data center electricity consumption will nearly double from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, with AI-focused data centers growing faster. He pointed out that the challenge isn't to curb expansion, but rather how efficiently its energy will be managed.

He stressed that a data center's efficiency isn't measured by the amount of energy it receives, but by the amount of useful computing it produces from that energy, explaining that this efficiency starts with the design, which includes high-density infrastructure, cooling systems suited to the local climate, better use of resources, and meticulously planned load distribution among local data centers, the cloud, and edge computing according to data sovereignty, security and response-time requirements.

Alam suggested that AI can be part of the solution by forecasting loads, optimizing cooling and reducing wasted energy.

He noted that the issue goes beyond being an operational challenge, pointing out that Qatar has built its economic standing on mastering the conversion of energy into value, and that investment in data centers and artificial intelligence is a natural outgrowth of this equation in a new form: energy is transformed into computing, computing into knowledge, and knowledge into economic and service value.

This squarely dovetails with the economic and environmental pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030, as efficiency and sustainability shift from an additional cost to a long-term competitive advantage, Alam underscored.

He maintained that energy is no longer merely an item in the operating budget, but has become a design criterion, and that institutions that approach it on this basis from day one are building a more efficient and future-ready digital infrastructure. Success won't be measured by the scale of available computing capacity, but by the amount of economic and service value generated from each unit of energy consumed, Alam remarked.

In this evolving theater, Qatar projects itself by dint of massive gas reserves, alongside growing LNG production capabilities, as the nation positions itself as a key player capable of capitalizing on the wave of increasing demand for energy and gas throughout the years ahead.

Intriguingly, these capabilities made possible by modern technology, foremost among them large-scale data centers, have been underscored by previous reports implying that gas is the energy of the future and that growing demand for it will continue, undergirded by global economic growth and other factors such as AI and data centers.

The reports noted that demand for LNG is projected to reach between 600 million and 700 million tons annually by 2035.

According to a report by US energy and power-sector consulting firm Grid Strategies, data centers in the United States account for roughly 55% of utilities’ projected electricity-demand growth over the next five years, reflecting the scale of the impact these facilities are now having on power-sector plans.

As AI applications continue to expand, data centers' power needs are expected to increase further, prompting utilities to accelerate plans to add new generation capacity.

In this context, reliance on natural gas is growing to provide reliable and flexible electricity, alongside investment in solar and wind power projects. Renewable energy is a key component of plans to reduce emissions and diversify the energy mix, but it is affected by factors such as weather conditions and variability in generation, making natural gas an important source of electricity when demand is high or renewable generation declines.

  As such, some electricity firms are pivoting toward augmenting new capabilities for generating electricity by gas, with other companies reconsidering mothballing plans for some conventional generation plants to ensure conservation of ample reserves throughout the phase in which power grids are undergoing rapid growth in loads. (QNA)