A recent report by JPMorgan Chase revealed that major global technology companies, including Alphabet, Amazon’s AWS, Meta, and Microsoft, consumed around 90 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2022.
This is approximately 2,500 times more than the 36 gigawatt-hours generated by Nigeria, highlighting significant differences in energy usage between these tech giants and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.
The report, presented at a conference in Abuja, starkly contrasts with Nigeria’s challenges of inconsistent power supply, worsened by outdated infrastructure leading to frequent national grid failures. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics recorded 46 nationwide blackouts between 2017 and 2023 due to these infrastructure shortcomings.
These tech companies are rapidly evolving, with their energy consumption projected to double by 2026, driven by the increasing demand for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency computations.
“The big techs were said to have collectively invested $40 billion between January and March, most of it in data centers to deal with growing artificial intelligence workloads,” reported the Economic Times.
– Nigeria is encountering significant challenges. Approximately 40% of electricity consumption in the country relies on backup generators due to the reliability issues of the Nigerian power grid.
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After the removal of electricity subsidies for Band A customers, leading to an increase in the tariff to N206 per kilowatt-hour, Nigeria has witnessed widespread protests.
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The populace is calling for improved power supply conditions to be addressed prior to any tariff changes.
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