Optimizing Renewables to Meet Billion-watt Level Demand
Global energy markets are being transformed by exploding electricity demand from AI-driven data centers and a simultaneous boom in renewable energy supply. As these digital facilities rapidly become gigawatt-scale power consumers, risks with emissions, grid stability, and electricity prices are emerging that urgently need to be addressed. Renewable energy management systems (REMS) are emerging as the critical bridge—optimizing decentralized renewable assets so the digital economy can grow without derailing the energy transition. Through recent acquisitions, Yokogawa is able to co-innovate solutions that utilize REMS and other integrated platforms to optimize renewable energy for the future.
Two outstanding trends are driving global energy markets today.
The first is an unprecedented surge in energy demand to meet the growing number and size of data centers. The second is skyrocketing expansion of renewable energy supply and capacity. Recent headlines for both developments are astounding.
Driven by growing AI training and computing workloads that require significant energy, global data center power consumption is increasing by around 15% annually,*1 making this one of the fastest growing sources of electricity demand. Energy demand is projected to rise to about 945 TWh by 2030, roughly 2.27 times today’s level. At this rate, these facilities combined will become the fourth-largest consumer of electricity after the US, China and India by 2035, according to BloombergNEF estimates.*2
Today, a typical AI-focused data center consumes as much power as 100,000 homes, according to the UN, but the largest centers now being built will use 20 times that.*3 The gigawatt — or one billion watts of electricity, enough to power roughly 750,000 US homes — is now replacing the megawatt as the metric for the biggest data center campuses. Hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are all planning GW-scale centers*4 and cumulative global capital investment in data center infrastructure is projected to reach some USD 7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey & Company.*5
So much is riding now on how to manage this surge. This vast and energy-intensive digital infrastructure threatens not only to become a major emitter of carbon dioxide, but also to push up household electricity prices*6 and lead to blackouts and brownouts.*7 Thankfully, renewable energy has the potential to meet this demand as it becomes ever-more plentiful and cheaper.
Last year, renewables overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity in the world, driven by spectacular growth in solar power. Solar generation jumped by 31% in the first half of 2025, the fastest absolute growth on record, outpacing wind.*8 Moreover, 90% of new renewable projects generate electricity at a lower cost than the cheapest fossil-fuel alternative, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.*9 Anticipating even more demand, global investment in renewable energy sources reached some $390 billion for the first six-months of 2025, making it the best on record.*10 In 2024, investors poured more than twice as much money into clean energy projects than those focused on fossil fuels.
In this context, data center operators are actively decarbonizing their facilities. Many of the largest tech companies are already operating with 100% clean power and are planning for even more capacity as energy demand rises.*11 According to BloombergNEF, however, only a few companies “have ambitious plans for round-the-clock carbon free power or direct supply from large-scale renewable energy plants, but most are relying on traditional green power procurement to lower their carbon footprint.”*12
Optimizing renewables through REMS
The billion-watt question then today is how this massive procurement of renewables can be optimized, not just for data centers but industry in general.
Currently, energy operators are increasingly owning, operating, and managing multiple types of renewable-energy power generation facilities (such as solar, onshore/offshore wind, hydropower, and geothermal). Moreover, these facilities are geographically distributed and decentralized. Coordinating this decentralized and variegated renewable power generation entails multiple challenges. In a 2023 report on REMS solutions, Gartner points out that renewable energy asset owners face difficulties in operating “current and growing fleets with existing legacy-siloed IT/OT processes and systems.”*13
To overcome this fragmentation, Yokogawa holds that energy companies must move to platforms that can provide support for holistic remote renewable energy operation and more flexibility. This is where the deployment of REMS – which manage and optimize renewable energy production, operations, and maintenance – becomes vital. In real time, REMS monitor data on power generation, storage, consumption, and weather to provide a comprehensive view of performance. Through forecasting, optimization, and control capabilities, they help operators coordinate their assets to maximize the efficiency and stability of renewable energy resources. REMS also support grid integration, demand response, and reporting by balancing supply and demand, enabling grid services, and delivering analytics that support performance tracking and regulatory compliance.
To deliver value in these key ways to industry, Yokogawa acquired BaxEnergy, a trusted provider of REMS, in 2024. BaxEnergy optimizes the operations of utilities and independent power providers who manage cross-technology and cross-manufacturer portfolios, including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, combined cycle, battery energy storage systems, and green hydrogen. The company currently monitors and manages more than 140 GW of renewable energy in over 50 countries. With its acquisition of BaxEnergy, Yokogawa will be able to scale globally and provide power producers and process industry users with intelligent data engineering and renewable energy management expertise, delivered through their data infrastructure and ecosystem of applications.
Towards a one-stop shop for renewable operators
Yokogawa has further added to its line-up by acquiring two other companies in 2025: Intellisync, a provider of cybersecurity solutions, and WiSNAM, a developer of advanced grid control and energy management solutions. Both of these companies have been integrated into BaxEnergy, allowing Yokogawa to expand its cybersecurity capabilities and advanced grid control products and provide a “digital hub” for renewable operators. With Intellisync's continuous security operations and WiSNAM's grid compliant Power Plant Controller, Yokogawa will be able to deliver secure, high-performance solutions that bridge IT and OT from end to end.
Bridging the renewable boom and soaring energy demand
By acquiring key companies in renewable energy management and cybersecurity, Yokogawa has prepared the way for the co-innovation of diverse solutions to optimize the energy transition. This strategic expansion into the renewables sector is in keeping with Yokogawa’s Purpose, a statement that reads, “Utilizing our ability to measure and connect, we fulfil our responsibilities for the future of our planet.” With a growing portfolio of solutions to measure and connect renewable energy assets, Yokogawa provides an increasingly important bridge to optimize a world of booming renewables and soaring energy demand.
References
*1 International Energy Agency: https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from-ai
*2 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-11-21/how-the-data-center-boom-tests-grids-water-resources-capital-markets
*3 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-22/big-tech-must-make-ai-sustainable-by-2030-un-chief-says
*4 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-11-21/how-the-data-center-boom-tests-grids-water-resources-capital-markets
*5 McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-cost-of-compute-a-7-trillion-dollar-race-to-scale-data-centers
*6 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-data-centers-electricity-prices/
*7 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-11-21/how-the-data-center-boom-tests-grids-water-resources-capital-markets
*8 Ember: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/global-electricity-mid-year-insights-2025/global-analysis/
*9 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-22/big-tech-must-make-ai-sustainable-by-2030-un-chief-says
*10 Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-08-29/green-energy-is-booming-just-not-in-the-us
*11 Bloomberg NEF: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/power-hungry-data-centers-are-driving-green-energy-demand/
*12 Bloomberg NEF: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/power-hungry-data-centers-are-driving-green-energy-demand/
*13 Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4457699
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