Over 315 proposed data centre developments are now queuing for an electricity grid connection in Britain. If they all hooked up to the grid, Britain would need to nearly double the power it generates to meet their needs.
That’s according to energy regulator Ofgem, which is proposing an upfront fee of up to £712,500 for each MW sought by prospective data centre operators, in a bid to filter out “speculative” applications for connections.
The proposal [pdf] from Ofgem comes as grid connection applications tripled in under a year to June 2025 to 125GW.
Data centre projects account for “at least 80GWs,” of that, said Ofgem in a July 29 press release.
(That 80GWs figure is a mistake, a spokesperson subsequently told The Stack, after we clarified some inconsistencies in the figures provided, saying "73GW is the best estimate we have from NESO as the system operator.")
