The UK’s grid connection queue has reached 738GW, around four times the capacity needed for the NESO Clean Power 2030 target, a new report has found.
The report, authored by FM insurance, points to a large issue in project connection rather than simply building more power generation.
More than 50GW of data centre capacity is already requested through the grid queue, yet many projects are being held back by grid access. Data centres are now the largest driver of new electricity demand, with the sector potentially needing 41TWh by 2035.
The report argues that the UK needs a grid that is reliable, resilient and capable of handling new technologies.
Many technologies being deployed across infrastructure are not yet proven at scale, with 46% of survey respondents uncertain about how new technologies will perform under real-world stress.
The report’s subsection title ‘early decisions lock in risks’ sums up the issue with many of the technologies that power infrastructure developers and operators are implementing today – they are untested at scale.
Sandy Calvert, Senior VP at Moore McNeil, a consulting firm that contributed to the report, says they are “building the plane as we’re flying it.”
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