U.S. data center power demand could nearly triple in the next three years, and consume as much as 12% of the country's electricity, as the industry undergoes an AI transformation, according to an unpublished Department of Energy-backed report seen by Reuters.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, which is expected to be released on Friday, comes at a time when the U.S. power industry and government agencies attempt to understand how the sudden rise of Big Tech's data center demand will affect electrical grids, power bills and the climate.

By 2028, data center annual energy use could have a total power demand of between 74 and 132 gigawatts, or between 6.7% to 12% of total U.S. electricity consumption, according to the Berkeley Lab report.

The industry standard-setting report included ranges that depended partly on the availability and demand for a type of AI chip known as GPUs. Currently, data centers make up a little more than 4% the country's power load.

"This really signals to us where the frontier is in terms of growing energy demand in the U.S.," said Avi Shultz, director of the DOE's Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office.