Britain’s power grid risks becoming a bottleneck for digital expansion: Tech giants are currently flooding grid operators with applications for data center connections, but many of these are apparently pure speculation. The grid regulator Ofgem speaks of a threefold increase in requests in just seven months. In June 2025 alone, grid connection requests for 125 gigawatts were submitted. For comparison: in November 2024, it was still 41 GW.
Data centers account for more than half of the requests, according to the US financial news agency Bloomberg. According to Ofgem, 125 GW corresponds to more than double the current British peak demand. Grid operator National Grid plans to connect 19 GW of new capacity in 5 years, according to Bloomberg - about a third of the current peak demand.
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Britain’s power grid risks becoming a bottleneck for digital expansion: Tech giants are currently flooding grid operators with applications for data center connections, but many of these are apparently pure speculation. The grid regulator Ofgem speaks of a threefold increase in requests in just seven months. In June 2025 alone, grid connection requests for 125 gigawatts were submitted. For comparison: in November 2024, it was still 41 GW.
Data centers account for more than half of the requests, according to the US financial news agency Bloomberg. According to Ofgem, 125 GW corresponds to more than double the current British peak demand. Grid operator National Grid plans to connect 19 GW of new capacity in 5 years, according to Bloomberg - about a third of the current peak demand.
Unfavorable timing for demand boom
A single data center with 100 megawatts of power consumes as much electricity as 260,000 households, according to Aurora Energy Research. In addition, the electricity demand is constant around the clock and the load cannot simply be dropped in case of need. Moreover, the data center boom comes at a time when major electrification tasks are already pending, for example, due to the conversion of heating to heat pumps, in the field of e-mobility, and in industry. According to Ofgem, the number of current requests even exceeds the most ambitious demand forecasts.
Grid operators are also dealing with many speculative applications that are clogging the queue. Strategically important projects that bring real benefits to consumers could therefore be postponed. Ofgem and the grid operators therefore want to filter the requests first: applicants will have to prove that their projects are real and ready for implementation before they are processed further. The introduction of a new progress fee is also being discussed.
Concern about project migration
At the same time, Ofgem also aims to realize connections faster. Otherwise, long waiting times could become a hindrance to economic growth. Applicants might then perhaps turn their backs on Great Britain and realize their projects in other countries.
(mki)
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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.