Oct 31 (Reuters) - AES Corp ( AES ) beat Wall Street

estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by higher

earnings from its renewables and utilities segments and a lower

tax rate.

The Virginia-based company saw considerable growth in its

renewables unit last year, driven by a global push for cleaner

power generation, especially at a time when U.S. power demand is

expected to hit record highs.

Its power purchase agreement backlog, which consists of

projects with signed contracts but not yet operational, saw an

uptick to 12.7 gigawatts (GW) from 12.6 GW in the previous

quarter.

Utilities are also projected to see a boom in demand for

electricity over the next decade, primarily due to the power

needs of AI and data centers.

In September, McKinsey estimated that U.S. data center

energy consumption would rise to 606 terawatt-hours (TWh) by

2030, representing 12% of the country's total power demand.

One terawatt-hour can power 70,000 homes for a year.

"Since our last call, we have signed or been awarded 2.2 GW

of long-term contracts for renewable or new data center load

growth at our U.S. utilities," AES ( AES ) Chief Executive Officer

Andres Gluski said.

The utility posted revenue of $3.29 billion for the

July-September quarter, down from $3.43 billion in the same

quarter last year, due to lower sales at its energy

infrastructure unit.

However, earnings in its utilities segment rose 9%, while

those in its renewables segment rose 2.5%.

The company reaffirmed that its full-year adjusted profit

forecast would come in at the upper half of $1.87 per share to

$1.97 per share, driven by new renewables commissionings, rate

base growth, and improved margins in Chile.

AES ( AES ) posted an adjusted profit of 71 cents per share in the

third quarter, compared to analysts' estimate of 64 cents per

share, according to data compiled by LSEG.