WEMO 2025 (complet) - Flipbook - Page 9
W E M O 202 5
O U T LO O K
However, AI also has the potential to enable emission
reductions in data centers and elsewhere and its usage could
accelerate innovation in energy technologies such as batteries
and solar PV (see below the chapter on technologies).
28https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/
measuring-the-environmental-impact-of-ai-inference/?hl=en
29https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2025/prices
30https://ember-energy.org/data/european-electricity-prices-and-costs/
31https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64284
Average monthly wholesale electricity prices in Europe and US
(2024)
Europe
US
• While electricity wholesale prices declined in Europe,
they remained much higher than in the US 29, 30, 31:
In 2024, European wholesale electricity prices continued
to decline driven by falling natural gas prices and increased
renewable output, averaging €74/MWh. They dropped by
22% from 2023 (€95/MWh) and fell sharply from 2022’s
€150–300/MWh peak during the energy crisis triggered
by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and high natural gas prices.
32https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets_en
33 https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-mid-year-update-2025/
prices-trends-in-wholesale-markets-differ-across-regions
However, 2024 prices remained 2.5 times higher than
pre- COVID levels of €30 –35/MWh in 2019 –2020.
In the U.S., wholesale prices in 2024 were lower and less
volatile, averaging $36/MWh, down from $63/MWh in 2022
and slightly below 2023’s $37/MWh, due to low natural gas
prices ($2.21/MMBtu) and solar and wind generation growth.
Europe’s 2024 wholesale electricity spot prices were
significantly higher than the The United States',
driven by Europe’s reliance on imported natural gas,
especially more expensive LNG (Liquified Natural
Gas), and more stringent environmental constrains
such as ETS (Emissions Trading System) obligations.32 The
US benefited from abundant domestic gas and a 45%
increase in renewable generation since 2020, keeping
prices closer to pre-crisis levels ($40–50/MWh in 2019).
The divergence explains European high-electricity-consuming
industries' competitive challenges towards their American
peers.
WEMO 2025
In parallel, Google has introduced a new methodology to
measure the environmental impact of AI inference with
greater granularity, factoring in hardware type, location, and
workload. This enables operators to pinpoint ine昀케ciencies,
optimize deployments, and improve sustainability.28E昀케ciency
improvements and innovations like liquid cooling for data
centers are underway, but the rapid growth of AI and
hyperscale facilities continues to outpace these e昀昀orts,
posing challenges for low carbon electricity supplies,
GHG emissions reduction and electrical grids resilience.
FIGURE 4
8
combining power cap, energy storage, and GPU burn
mechanisms. The first experimental results show that
this new design eliminates the power variations and the
peak power demand seen by the grid is reduced by 30%.
