The UK must be prepared to take “bold steps” to ensure its energy infrastructure can keep up with an expected rise in data center power demand, according to a senior leader of the UK's power transmission network. United.
Speaking at the Aurora Forum in Oxford, National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew said new technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing will require a significant expansion of the country's data center infrastructure.
Pettigrew said this trend will place unprecedented demands on the UK's aging electricity networks, with National Grid forecasting demand from commercial data centers will increase six-fold over the next decade.
“Future growth of fundamental technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing will mean larger-scale, energy-intensive computing infrastructure,” he predicted.
“[A]As we consider the increasing limitations of the current 'supergrid', we once again find ourselves at a crucial moment. A moment that requires innovative thinking and bold actions to create a transmission network for the future of tomorrow.”
It might be time for the UK to consider a major overhaul of its energy infrastructure to give itself the headroom it will need over the next 20 years, Pettigrew suggested.
Incremental upgrades to legacy energy infrastructure will not be enough
Pettigrew described how the fundamental design behind the National Grid has remained largely unchanged since it was updated to meet growing energy demands in the 1950s.
Since then, the excess capacity implemented by the prescient engineers of the 1950s has meant that National Grid has been able to gradually upgrade its infrastructure to adapt to new energy demands and grow with the country.
The 'supergrid' has served the nation well over the past 70 years, according to Pettigrew, but he speculated that with the dramatic growth that new technologies like AI and quantum computing will bring, more than just incremental change will be needed.
“[T]The real question is: are we reaching the limit of what an incremental approach can offer? As we look toward the strategic space energy plan, do we also need to take a collective step back and consider whether there are alternative long-term approaches to building a grid that is suitable not only for the next 20 years, but also for the next 60.”
Pettigrew raised the possibility of an ultra-high voltage terrestrial transmission network of up to 800,000 V, which could be overlaid on the existing supergrid, transforming it into a “super-supergrid.”
The strength of this system is that it would allow massive energy transfers across the country using ultra-high capacity substations to connect major energy sources to the highest demand centers on the grid.
Pettigrew argued that a tactical and reactive approach to the energy sector will not be able to keep pace with the demand surges we expect over the next 10 years, arguing that only a strategic and proactive model will provide the flexibility and capacity to withstand this demand.
“We would move from a network of hundreds of individual connection projects spread across the country, all of which require their own approval and infrastructure, to high-capacity hubs where investment is directed to where it is needed.”
Explosion of global demand for data centers
The demand for computing power generated by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing has led to a rush to expand data center capacity from hyperscalers.
In March 2024, AWS announced plans to acquire a nuclear-powered data center in a major $650 million deal with U.S. utility Talen Energy.
The Cumulus data center complex is adjacent to a 2.5-gigawatt nuclear power plant located in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, and is the latest in a series of moves by the cloud giant aimed at diversifying its energy sources and reducing emissions. carbon.
Microsoft has also invested heavily in data center expansions in the UK, with the latest development coming at the decommissioned nuclear power station in Eggborough, Yorkshire.
It announced its plans to build two two-story data center buildings at the site, building on its commitment to deliver 100% renewable energy at its data center locations by 2025.
