In its Clean Power 2030 report, the UK government-owned National Energy System Operator (Neso) has said it is possible to build, connect, and operate a clean power system for Great Britain by 2030 while supporting a fourfold growth in data center electricity demand.
Neso projects that high levels of development in artificial intelligence and off-site computation will precipitate this growth and “underpin the establishment of a smart energy system.”
The report contended that, despite immense challenges, the requisite foundations are in place to achieve the Labour government's pledge to create a clean electricity system by 2030.
Achieving this will require mass investment in Britain’s regional power networks, which must expand four times faster than they have in the past decade, while the UK’s high-voltage transmission network will need to double its build rate within the next five years to keep pace.
The report also called for “urgent action” across industry, regulators, and government officials to streamline permitting and regulatory processes for new projects. In the UK, some renewable energy projects can take 10–15 years or more to connect to the grid.
Neso envisions offshore wind making up over half of the UK's generation, with solar providing 29 percent. In addition, it points to other low-carbon technology, including hydrogen as CCS, to add additional value to the system. Last month, the UK government announced £22 billion ($28.2bn) in investments in CCS projects nationwide.
Following the report, the UK Government must now set out its plan for clean power and use it to drive delivery, with the report contending: “The plan should look beyond the infrastructure program to the supply chain, to operations, including digitalization, to distribution networks and the consumer, and beyond power to the rest of the economy.”
Following the report's publication, Neso will produce a long-term energy infrastructure plan that will provide a blueprint for the UK's infrastructure until 2050.
The plan's first iteration will be published in 2026 and focus on electricity generation and storage, including hydrogen assets such as those powered by offshore wind farms to pumped storage hydro.
UK market growth
The largest commercial data center market in Europe, data center demand in the UK is expected to grow significantly over the remainder of the decade. The UK market is expected to reach 2.1GW of capacity by the end of 2024 and 3.6GW by 2029.
Supporting these projections, in March, the CEO of British utility National Grid, John Pettigrew, said, "Demand from commercial data centers will increase six-fold, just in the next ten years."
The UK has seen increased investment in its data center sector over 2024, especially from US firms. Last month, four US-based companies announced plans to invest £6.3 billion ($8.22bn) in UK data center infrastructure. Cloud HQ, CyrusOne, CoreWeave, and ServiceNow announced their plans as part of the UK government’s investment summit.
Subsequently, the UK government has been making a more concerted effort to draw large-scale operators to its shores. Since April, over $25 billion has been pumped into the sector, indicating its upward trajectory.
