A Match Made in Heaven

Data centres don’t have to run on fossil fuels – and the industry claiming otherwise has an interest in you believing that.

Renewable energy, storage, and smart grids will play a vital role in supplying energy-hungry data centres. The fossil fuel industry is promoting a false narrative that data centres must rely on their energy products.

But the future is not one of burning fossil fuels with huge energy losses. Instead, it is smart energy networks that move energy efficiently back and forth between electrotech, including solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and data centres that can act as flexible system assets.

The truth that fossil fuel lobbyists are terrified of is that their electrotech rivals have huge potential to combine with digital technologies as a central motor of innovation and economic prosperity. AI is already being used to intelligently integrate renewable energy so it can be maximised via electricity grids.

AI is already being used to intelligently integrate renewable energy so it can be maximised via electricity grids.

Like King Canute trying to hold back the inevitable tide of scientific progress, the advocates of oil, gas, and coal know there are limitations to using their analog fossil fuel tech with advanced digital technologies. They hope that no one will notice the absurdity of running shiny new AI-enhanced digital technologies on 20th-century energy sources.

Looking beyond a fossil-fuelled AI narrative 

The fossil fuel industry keeps spotlighting data centres’ natural gas connections, but this obscures a bigger truth: AI data centres can and will run on cheap, reliable renewables.

AI data centres can and will run on cheap, reliable renewables.

The 2026 Ember Global Electricity Review shows that renewables reached 43% of global electricity generation in 2025, surpassing coal’s 33% share for the first time in over a century. Meanwhile, in 2025 solar power met 75% of global electricity demand growth.

IRENA’s new landmark report, ‘24/7 renewables: The economics of firm solar and wind,’ shows that in prime solar and wind regions, hybrid systems combining solar, wind, and battery storage now deliver round-the-clock power at lower costs than fossil fuels, with firm costs as low as $54 (46 euros) per MWh compared to over $100 per MWh for new gas globally.

The direction of travel is clear, and Big Tech knows this. That’s why in 2025 the tech sector signed around 40% of all corporate power purchase agreements for renewable energy.

There’s more they can do, though. When they invest in data centres, instead of annual renewable energy certificates, which let a company claim green power while drawing fossil fuel electricity in real time, they should follow leading operators who are shifting to hourly, locationally matched procurement. When hyperscalers commit to hourly matching, they become anchor customers for renewable buildout that serves entire national grids.

ASEAN’s data centre electricity demand is projected to nearly double by 2030. Latin America’s data centre market is set to reach $14.3 billion by the same year. Sub-Saharan Africa is at the earliest stage of a buildout that will accelerate through the decade. These markets are making foundational choices right now, and they sit on top of the world’s best renewable resources.

Like everyone else, Big Tech wants to protect its data centres from fossil fuel volatility. As oil and gas markets remain exposed to geopolitical shocks, including ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, energy sovereignty through renewables has become a strategic imperative, not a values statement.