By Dan Milmo,Jillian Ambrose
Publication Date: 2026-02-23 15:58:00
The amount of electricity needed for new data center projects in the UK would exceed the country’s current peak electricity consumption, an industry regulator has said.
Ofgem said around 140 planned data center projects based on artificial intelligence could require 50 gigawatts of electricity – 5 GW more than the country’s current peak demand.
The figure was revealed in an Ofgem consultation on demand for new connections to the UK electricity grid. It pointed to a “surge in demand” for connection applications between November 2024 and June last year, with a significant proportion coming from data centers. This exceeded even the most ambitious forecasts.
Meanwhile, new renewable energy projects are not coming online at the pace at which they are being built to meet the government’s clean energy goals by the end of the decade.
Ofgem said the work needed to connect the growing number of data centers could cause delays to other projects that are “critical to…
