Financier №4 (40) 2025

In 2024, the international consulting group McKinsey conducted a survey of telecommunications executives: 77% of respondents cited unstable energy prices as the most important problem. At the same time, 94% noted rising electricity prices, and 63% predicted that this trend would continue. Under these circumstances, the communications industry is increasingly turning to alternative energy options.

Terawatts for Terabytes

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 5.5 billion users, or 68% of the world’s population, were connected to broadband internet in 2024. According to World Bank estimates, this figure reached 93.4% in high-income countries.

Maintaining and expanding high-speed communications networks requires ever-increasing amounts of electricity. Without it, high network performance is impossible. According to data from the International Energy Agency, global electricity consumption increased by 4.3% in 2024, driven in large part by data centers. In the United States, data centers consumed 8–9% of the country’s electricity generation in H1 2025. By 2030, this share is projected to rise to 12%. Overall, global IT infrastructure required 2,000 TWh at the beginning of 2025, or about 7% of total global electricity consumption.

Power Calculation

Today, renewable energy accounts for 21% of the total energy balance in the US, while this figure is expected to exceed 50% in the EU and China by the end of 2024.

At the same time, electricity generated by alternative energy sources has become cheaper than traditional generation due to rising fossil fuel prices and government support. In the US, the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by conventional power plants averaged $0.13, compared with $0.04 for wind power and just $0.025 for solar power. It is therefore no surprise that telecom operators, data centers, and many IT companies are striving to switch to alternative energy wherever possible.

Verizon (VZ), one of the leading US telecommunications companies, signed 28 power purchase agreements with renewable energy plants, with a combined installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts, in 2023–2024. In 2024, 34.4% of Verizon’s electricity consumption came from renewable sources.

Another US telecom industry leader, T-Mobile (TMUS), is actively investing in small startups that generate renewable electricity. As a result, the company’s share of renewable energy in total electricity consumption reached 100% by the beginning of 2025. It is also integrating its cellular services with autonomous driving systems in electric vehicles.

The UN estimated the share of renewable energy sources in global electricity generation at 14.6% by the end of 2024.

Along the Path of Progress

Many analysts believe that the development of green energy may slow in the near future. The Trump administration’s lack of interest in advancing the environmental agenda could lead to the cancellation of many subsidies. This would result in higher electricity prices and reduced benefits for telecom operators partnering with renewable energy providers. At the same time, the communications industry is gaining access to increasingly energy-efficient equipment, which is in demand worldwide.

Nevertheless, it can be stated that neither improvements in the performance of traditional energy sources nor the conservative policy approach pursued by the Trump White House can fully reverse the global trend toward a green transition.