The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has released a new report outlining the country’s roadmap to achieving clean power by 2030.
The DESNZ report proposes reforming the planning and consenting process to accelerate the expansion and upgrade of transmission and distribution networks, allowing crucial infrastructure, such as housing, gigafactories, and data centers, to connect to the grid much faster.
Currently, the UK's grid connection queue has a combined capacity of 739GW, and many of the projects are speculative or lack the funding and planning permission needed to bring them to market.
Additionally, the report contends that significant reinforcement and expansion of the distribution network are required to support sector electrification and accommodate new demand in some locations for growing infrastructure and industrial uses, such as data centers and transport hubs.
The DESNZ report also envisions significant growth in renewable energy deployment to achieve its clean energy goals.
According to the report, the UK is expected to have 43-50GW of offshore wind, 27-29GW of onshore wind, and 45-47GW of solar power by 2030. To achieve this, an estimated £40 billion ($50.78bn) of investment per week will be mobilized between 2025 and 2030, mostly through private investment.
The renewable capacity will be complemented with flexible capacity, including 23-27GW of battery capacity, 4-6GW of long-duration energy storage, and development of flexibility technologies, including gas carbon capture utilization & storage, hydrogen, and substantial opportunity for consumer-led flexibility. Security of supply will be underpinned by the maintenance of 35GW of unabated gas reserve capacity.
The report was commissioned following the publication of the UK government-owned National Energy System Operator (Neso) Clean Power 2030 report, which recommended the government publish a report based on its findings on how it will achieve its clean power targets.
The Neso report concluded that a clean power system for Great Britain could be built, connected, and operated by 2030 while supporting a fourfold growth in data center electricity demand.
The UK data center market has grown significantly over recent years and, as a result, requires increasing amounts of energy to meet its needs. The UK market is expected to reach 3.61GW by 2029, almost doubling its current rate.
The majority is constrained in London, representing around 80 percent of the country’s data center capacity. Subsequently, Neso has projected that annual data energy center consumption in the UK could reach as high as 35TWh by 2050.
As a result, a range of companies have invested significantly in the market. In October, four major US data center developers—Cloud HQ, CyrusOne, CoreWeave, and ServiceNow—announced they plan to invest £6.3 billion ($8.22bn) in UK data center infrastructure.
Before this, in September, Amazon Web Services committed to invest £8bn ($10.47bn) over the next five years into data centers in the UK.
