The risk of adding more data center demand in the UK is that it will absorb power that could have gone to other areas of the economy. This is particularly important when considering grid balancing.
Bracewell’s Tom Swarbrick told Energy Voice that for hyperscalers building their own generation “absolutely guarantees access to power. It can make sense to make that up-front investment and secure a cheap rate – and take it off grid.”
Northern Europe has an advantage in cooling, Swarbrick said. He noted there was “government direction, capacity to build, cheap power, space, an open planning landscape. It’s not the same in the UK, it’s much more complicated.”
