theguardian_business

Datacentre projects could face fees for grid access to ease connection queue, Ofgem says

📰 source: theguardian_business · 💼 business

ofgem proposes upfront fees for datacentre grid connections to ease a massive queue. currently 315 datacentres are waiting to connect, representing 73gw of demand — nearly 30gw above britain's peak energy use of 45gw. under the plan, developers would need to put down £350m to reserve 500mw of capacity, returned only when the datacentre goes live. ofgem also wants hard milestones like securing customers and financing, with projects removed from the queue if they miss these targets.

the proposals aim to weed out speculative schemes that clog the grid. ofgem noted that applications from datacentres have surged, with 140 projects representing 50gw reported in february, and numbers have risen since. globally, the uptime institute identified 250 datacentre projects over 100mw announced between 2021 and 2024, and believes half may never be built or will be delayed. the consultation on ofgem's plan will test feasibility.

why it matters: grid connection fees could separate real ai datacentre projects from speculative ones, unlocking uk growth while preventing energy bottlenecks.

source: theguardian_business
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