Britain's AI datacenter plans face energy, planning, investment challenges
- Reference: 1753356730
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/24/britains_ai_datacenter_plans_face/
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OK great, UK is building loads of AI datacenters. How are we going to power that? [1]READ MORE
Meanwhile, the wider EMEA bitbarn market is thriving, with capacity up 21 percent in a year and the build pipeline up by 43 percent.
A report by law firm [2]Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman says that ambitious plans from Britain's Labour government offer "encouraging signs for stakeholders in the nation's datacenter and AI sectors."
It notes the [3]AI Opportunities Action Plan announced in January that recommended a range of policies and actions for the government to take. These included building out sufficient datacenter infrastructure through the establishment of "AI Growth Zones" and a drive for greater AI adoption throughout the economy.
According to Pillsbury, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is set to publish a long-term plan for the UK's AI infrastructure needs and will define a 10-year roadmap. The focus is expected to be on security concerns, sustainability and energy, supply chain resilience and the pursuit of "sovereign" AI compute to ensure national capability and strategic independence.
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Those "AI Growth Zones" will focus AI infrastructure development into strategic locations within the UK. As reported previously by The Register , these aim to streamline datacenter planning processes, while offering fast-tracked regulatory approvals and priority access to clean energy – with power being a thorny issue.
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Energy is one of the "greatest areas of skepticism" in the whole strategy, Pillsbury notes, with the UK having [7]some of the most expensive energy prices in the world , and aspirational net-zero targets, which it claims have been labeled as unrealistic.
To tackle the challenges, the government formed the [8]AI Energy Council , co-chaired by the Technology Secretary and the Energy Secretary, and largely made up of energy companies and the big three cloud operators.
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The aim of this is to guide energy policy investment and "devise innovative energy solutions," we are told, but while it has to date met twice since its formation, all requests by The Register to find out what was discussed or decided at those meetings have been met with a wall of silence.
Pillsbury also mentions that planning permission for datacenters has often been held up by delays and hurdles to new developments, and that the government moved to address this in its National Planning Policy Framework. It will also include bit barns in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) consenting regime, which "streamlines" the consenting process.
"Streamline" here means that developers can apply to a central government planning body for permission, [10]bypassing local authorities and any objections from local residents, as we previously reported.
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In terms of investment, the report says the government has taken a "front seat approach" to channeling private sector funding into new AI datacenter projects, including over £25 billion ($34 billion) committed last year.
However, the sums involved are modest compared to rival nations, with Pillsbury pointing to the $500 billion [12]"Stargate" project in America and the €109 billion ($112.6 billion) investment in the AI sector [13]announced by France earlier this year. The European Commission also [14]detailed plans to pump €200 billion ($207 billion) into AI projects.
The report concludes that until DSIT publishes its long-term compute strategy, there is uncertainty over how the government's aspirations will translate into actionable change for developers, investors and operators, but advises these to prepare now to be ready to take advantage.
At the same time, a snapshot of the EMEA datacenter market from commercial real estate biz [15]Cushman & Wakefield says the total operational capacity available in the first half of 2025 grew by 21 percent in a year to reach 10.3 GW.
[16]OpenAI wants to blow through $500B on AI infrastructure for itself, with help from pals
[17]France, UAE to drop €50B on AI mega-datacenter. Still nowhere near America's $500B bet
[18]EU plans to 'mobilize' €200B to invest in AI to catch up with US and China
[19]OK great, UK is building loads of AI datacenters. How are we going to power that?
It claims there is a "strong development pipeline," with more than 2.6 GW of capacity already under construction in the region, and 11.5 GW in the planning stages - an increase of 43 percent year-on-year.
The report finds that London continues to lead the region, with 1,189 MW currently operational and a further 1,678 MW in the pipeline – which would more than double its capacity. It is set to be the first locale in EMEA to pass 2 GW within the next three to five years, it forecasts.
However, it says that emerging markets outside the established FLAPD (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin) metro areas are reshaping the datacenter landscape, with locations such as Oslo, Helsinki, Berlin, and Lisbon rising rapidly.
Most bit barn markets in the region are grappling with stringent sustainability requirements, plus land and power constraints. These factors are driving up costs, extending project timelines, and creating considerable uncertainty for both operators and investors, according to Cushman & Wakefield. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/uk_ai_energy_council_meets/
[2] https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/artificial-intelligence-data-centers-uk-eu.html
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/uk_government_ai_plans/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aIZNONJAbqbT_UXxyh409wAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNONJAbqbT_UXxyh409wAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIZNONJAbqbT_UXxyh409wAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://iea.org.uk/were-number-one-in-unaffordable-electricity/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/uk_ai_energy_council_meets/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNONJAbqbT_UXxyh409wAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/uk_datacenter_planning_rules/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIZNONJAbqbT_UXxyh409wAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/openai_stargate_ai_datacenter_company/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/08/uae_france_dc_ai/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/eu_plans_to_mobilize_200b/
[15] https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/emea-data-centre-update
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/openai_stargate_ai_datacenter_company/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/08/uae_france_dc_ai/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/eu_plans_to_mobilize_200b/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/uk_ai_energy_council_meets/
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
But there are no energy constraints !
If you want to build a datacentre then you need to include the cost of purchasing the land and building the (nuclear) power station.
The issue is we have become accustomed to the idea that paying for the building of infrastructure needed by business is the responsibility of the public purse and not the business investors. See exactly the same thing with EV's, there is no real reason why government should be funding the provision of a charging network (that business will profit from), the governments role should be to set the parameters and Standards and let "the market" build.
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
Not so!
If you read this week's Private Eye (p38) apparently Teesworks Ltd (the dodgy freeport run by Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney) bought a "private wire" electrical distribution network, including 20 substations, for er, £10.91 - 55p per substation - from publicly-owned South Tees Development Corporation, thanks to their mate Lord (Ben) Houchen
They now plan to locate datacentres on the site. And because it is a freeport, it would be exempt from various taxes and possibly data protection regulations.
So it just goes to show that if you have the right (political) connections then you can get all the (electrical) connections you need, paying only pennies for infrastructure worth tens of millions of pounds. It's corruption to the core of government. Another stinking Tory legacy that so-called Labour are happy to continue..
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
There would be so constraints if they put them outside of Londonahire or North of the Cambridge/Oxford line.
Plenty of (green)Electricity and water on Shap or in Scotland.
—
For those whinging about latency … your Production AWS is almost certainly in AWS-Europe-West-1, Dublin..
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
I would read it as the Energy Constraints are the infrastructure changes needed as the proposals for these data centres seem to be focused on greenbelt land, not brown belt.
We have excess capacity in the grid. However, the Government are rather stupid: They keep allocating that extra capacity to different things, from EV's to Heat pumps, and now to AI datacentres. That excess can't support all of those things. Hell, it can't even support ONE of those things. But the Government, being idiots, haven't a clue (or simply don't care), hence their idea that they'll just get people to shut things off so what capacity we have got goes to what the Government can make the most money from (or pay them the biggest 'donations').
Meanwhile the infrastructure needs updating and upgrading and there's not enough investment into that: And that NEEDED to be upgraded FIRST. But like I said: Government are idiots.
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
The excess needs a better strategy to soak up overnight and level the utilisation profile.
- pumped storage hydro
- better home battery subsidy
- wholesale reintroduction of Economy 7 at say 20% discount to the day rate to more significantly drive usage behaviour
- more free weekend days
Re: The cost of energy in the UK
Close to me is the former Chapelcross Magnox Nuclear Station.
Apart from the (slowly being deconstructed) reactor hall buildings the rest of the site was long cleared and is begging for something there - whether a new full sized Nuclear Power Station, a Modular or Data centre campus.
Power interconnects already there, cooling water and eager workers.
… oh SNP no Nuclear Power Stations ….
First, fix the supply
We read of wind farms and solar farms being off-line as they can't be connected to the grid. Fix that first.
Re: First, fix the supply
We don't really want wind farms and solar farms being connected to the grid in the way grid connections are currently being configured - Spain's recent outage should be a wake up call to the stupidity of direct grid connections. Wind and Solar farm operators need to put a bank of batteries between turbines/panels and the grid that are capable of supplying more than 1 hour of electricity (ie. more than the 30min windows the grid works in and sufficiently long to permit the spin up/down of slower "base load" generators).
Re: First, fix the supply
Or pumped storage hydro reservoirs…, and kill 2 birds with one stone and bake in extra water storage capacity to the plan…. Inc pumped filling to the brim during wet periods.
Re: First, fix the supply
Blackhillock 300MW/600MWh grid forming battery came online in March 2025. Kilmarnock South battery due for completion in November 2025. Eccles 400MW/80MWh battery due for completion in 2027.
Google set up its "Asia Data Center" in Changhua decades ago.
Nvidia and countless foreign companies are also rushing to Taiwan to set up high-energy AI data centers.
They all come for the ridiculously low electricity prices provided by the public power company Taipower.
Taipower suffers huge losses every year and waits for subsidies from the Taiwanese people.
Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Chih-hui and his ilk are proud of bringing in foreign chaebols to plunder the Taiwanese people.
Drinking water or A1?
You choose.
Re: Drinking water or A1?
Can anyone explain why data centres need to use so much water? Surely they are only using it for cooling. Why can't it be recycled back into the water supply after use? Maybe with minimal re-purification. Or run through cooling towers on site?
Re: Drinking water or A1?
The water is used for evaporative cooling, quite literally the cloud making more clouds!
To convert it back to liquid water which can be returned to the supply would involve even more energy use.
Donkeys leading Lions has Prize Monkeys Shitting their Nests ‽ .
To imagine and start thinking that either popular or unpopular centralised human government are in any way necessary for AI to flourish and spread its compounding news and confounding views which so easily render and expose the future wishful thinking of competing and opposing nations as a vast catalogue of monumentally catastrophic and increasingly obvious inevitably self-destructive tissue of lies, has y'all blissfully unaware of the fundamentally radical situation for publishing you are being hopelessly led and be fated to constantly struggle to survive and prosper in.
And as for .... Significant hurdles stand in the way of the UK government's push to become a global AI superpower, .. ....... that sure be some heavy shit those UK government pushers be smoking ...... Premium A1 Psychosis Grade ..... for it just aint gonna happen for real ever, is it. Be honest now. Don’t fool yourself and have others realise you be mentally ill and more than just a touch crazy too.
Re: Donkeys leading Lions has Prize Monkeys Shitting their Nests ‽ .
Welcome back AMFM - not seen you around for a while.
Softly, Softly, Catchee Prize Monkeys Clears and Creates the AIWay to New Beginnings.
Welcome back AMFM - not seen you around for a while. .... Will Godfrey
Cheers, and ditto, Will G. Very much the same could be said of your good self.
At times in some very strange situations and surreal spaces can IT be refreshingly busy and unusually engaging ..... but one is never ever too far away to reward multiple new destinations with stealthy favoured returns to any securely tried and fail-safe tested launch pad/peer reviewed publication.
"You don't become a 'superpower' overnight"
We know, ut who's going to tell them?
Re:"You don't become a global AI superpower overnight"
Question [from Doctor Syntax].......We know, but who's going to tell them?
Answer ...... A GODlike [Global Operating Device like] Superpowerful AI easily does that, but do crass ignorant and arrogant fools that be as blunt useless tools in their ivory towers listen and take heed of what is in store for them whenever deaf, dumb and blind to the changed and changing worlds around them that surround them ‽ .
Methinks then they be ripe ready for prime executive extermination.
It won't happen.
The UK doesn't have enough spare water, energy or labour for any of this, and everything here is far too expensive. Labour aren't competent enough to be in power for more than one term, if they survive that, and any planning/deals with them will end when they go. Brexit Britain is not a wise choice to build stuff in. With the gaps on the supermarket shelves, failing services, absence of labour across multiple sectors, political instability and inflation, it is way too third world.
Nuclear power plants take too long and cost too much. The UK doesn't have spare ones like the US and Japan. If you really do want to build datacentres here, you could wait until Reform get in and abolish pretty much all regulation/green targets. But even then, the place will just go to hell faster, and it won't be somewhere you would be out of choice.
Companies may initially sign up though. British governments have a long history of handing over public money for political reasons and then walking away, getting nothing in return. Migrants to Rwanda etc. So some will have a go at bagging a sack of cash from a desperate, talentless political regime, with no strings attached, and then walking away with it.
Those meetings they wouldn't tell you about. How much were those individuals with vested interests paid simply to be there?
The cost of energy in the UK
>> including energy constraints.
That should read energy costs, as you later mention here:
>> the UK having some of the most expensive energy prices in the world
Tories and Labour alike are to blame. We have not had an energy policy for decades. Just leave something which really is essential to everyday life to the market. We can see where that has got us.
The government (or what passes for governing in the UK) can remove other hurdles, but that won't help. Those hurdles can be removed in other countries too. Then it's back to the cost of energy part of the equation.