Reuters
Japan envisages the need for electricity output to rise 35% to 50% by 2050 due to growing demand from semiconductor plants and data centres backing artificial intelligence (AI), the government has forecast. Power output should grow from 1 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) projected for the current decade to about 1.35-1.5 trillion kWh in 2050 to meet demand as Japan sets up more data centres, chip factories and other energy-consuming businesses, the government said in a document published late on Monday. Unless Japan increases renewable energy output, stable supply of power could be uncertain, the government said, as it began mapping out a new strategy on decarbonisation and industrial policy by 2040 which it plans to finalise by the end of March.