Data centre developers explore linking up to UK gas pipelines
Official enquiries about grid connections suggest need for speedy energy access will support fossil fuel use
Developers looking to set up big data centres in Britain are exploring linking them up to the country’s main gas pipelines, as a boom in the industry triggers a rush for energy access.
Five large data centre projects in the south of England have made formal enquiries to National Gas about connections, the private owner of Britain’s gas transmission pipelines told the Financial Times.
Potential customers had indicated they were interested in building gas-fired power stations on site to provide steady power in the face of long lead times to connect directly to Britain’s electricity grid, the company added.
“The national gas transmission network is ready to play a key role in facilitating this critical investment today while working in partnership with the electricity networks,” said Ian Radley, chief commercial officer at National Gas, which is owned by Australian asset manager Macquarie.
The enquiries mark the first sign of data centres’ interest in connections big enough to need the transmission network, following media reports of interest in connections to the regional distribution network.
While National Gas declined to disclose details about the five projects, it said they would require roughly 2.5 gigawatts of capacity combined — equivalent to electrical capacity that could potentially supply several million homes.
The enquiries suggest that the need for speedy energy access will support fossil fuel use despite tech groups’ professed enthusiasm for cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
Data centres have always needed lots of electricity to run their processes and air conditioning to cool down. But they are becoming even more energy intensive because of artificial intelligence. The Nvidia-made chips that power most facilities consume far more electricity than traditional cloud computing systems for web hosting or business applications.
The UK government is trying to expand the UK’s AI computing capacity and encourage data centres to be built in the country, as part of what it has billed as a “decade of national renewal”.
Ministers have selected the Teesworks former steel site in north-east England as the location for their second so-called AI Growth Zone, people briefed on the matter told the FT last month.
But delays in securing connections to Britain’s electricity grid — as well as high electricity prices — have for several years posed a big problem to electricity users and generators. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang this year warned Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that the UK was lagging global rivals in AI infrastructure development, despite its talent and potential.
The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental body, estimates that data centre power demand could more than double to 945 terawatt-hours by 2045 — slightly more than Japan’s entire electricity use today.
Data centres in the US are increasingly turning to gas-fired power stations despite pressure to cut carbon dioxide emissions, as they race to meet growing demand.
Siemens Energy, the German energy equipment manufacturer, credited soaring demand for gas-fired turbines for data centres in the US as it posted a record order backlog of almost €136bn in August.
More than 85 gas-fired power facilities are being developed around the world to meet data centres’ burgeoning energy demands from AI, according to research from Global Energy Monitor.
Gas connections are rarely used to power data centres full-time. But as many AI companies rush to build out computing capacity, there can often be a lag between securing valuable real estate, development permits and chips, and connecting a facility to the grid.
Gas is seen by some in the industry as a way of bridging that gap, allowing data centres to come online quicker while providing backup generation. Once electricity connections are ready, the on-site gas-fired power station could switch to a backup role, National Gas said.
Elon Musk’s xAI used several gas turbines to power its “Colossus” data centre in Memphis, which houses more than 100,000 Nvidia chips, when it first came online last year. Some of the turbines have since been removed after the site’s grid connection was secured.
Teodora Kaneva, head of smart infrastructure and systems at trade group TechUK, said connections to electricity grids, as well as high electricity prices, were “one of the biggest challenges for investments in the UK”.
“We had a recent case where we had a data centre which needed extra [capacity] — they were meant to receive that in September this year, but now they’re receiving it in 2037,” she said.
The enquiries registered with National Gas are not guaranteed to result in connection requests, with industry advisers noting that companies could simply be exploring their options.
“You make sure that if option 1, 2, 3 and 4 don’t work, you have another option further down the line,” said Luisa Mostarda, senior energy consultant at real estate group Savills.