Data Centre Watch

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59 entries matching · showing 16–30

1. 15 Oct 2026 Updated 17 Oct UK West Norfolk 1000 MW Pre-application

   1GW data centre and 1.3GW solar proposed for West Norfolk

   EPL Norfolk Ltd has unveiled 'Longmarsh Green Energy': up to 1.3GW of solar and battery storage paired with a 1GW data-centre campus across two West Norfolk sites, near Tilney St Lawrence and Fincham/Barton Bendish, connecting to the Walpole substation from 2031. The combined solar sites cover about 4,695 acres (1,900ha). Its scale makes it a nationally significant infrastructure project, so the decision rests with the government rather than the council; consultation runs to 26 November, an application is due by April 2027, a decision by July 2028 and operation by 2032. The company claims around £25bn of investment, thousands of construction jobs and more than 500 operational roles; the borough council leader questions the site's proximity to RAF Marham (solar dazzle) and nearby nature sites.

   Why it matters: The 'solar farm + data centre' model arriving in the Fens — powering the compute with what's grown on the land.

   Source: Lynn News / BBC [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 17 Oct 2026 — Added the NSIP route and timeline (app April 2027, decision July 2028, live 2032), the 4,695-acre solar footprint, ~500 operational roles and the council leader's RAF Marham/nature concerns.
   2. 15 Oct 2026 — First filed.
2. 16 Oct 2026 UK National Policy

   Lords committee: new towns must not compete with data centres for water and power

   A House of Lords committee has warned that the government's new towns programme is 'threatened by static supply of energy and water', and that the proposed large new settlements should not have to compete for utilities with data centre projects.

   Why it matters: The same scarce inputs — grid capacity and water — now have two national building programmes queuing for them.

   Source: Planning Resource [C]

3. 16 Oct 2026 UK Devon, England Reported

   Devon council leader blames South West Water's 'neglect' for the drought

   Devon County Council's leader, Julian Brazil, told the BBC the drought had been 'decades in the making' and that South West Water's 'neglect' had 'put us here'. It is a rare case of a county authority naming its water company as the cause rather than the weather, coming as the South West sits in severe drought, Wimbleball reservoir stands at a fifth of capacity and a non-essential use ban application waits with the Environment Secretary.

   Why it matters: Local government naming the cause changes the politics: restrictions are argued as the consequence of underinvestment, not of rainfall — the same case the campaign makes about who should pay for resilience.

   Source: BBC News [V]

4. 16 Oct 2026 UK Oxfordshire Reported

   Didcot data centres to be studied for a waste-heat network

   Vale of White Horse District Council has commissioned a heat-network techno-economic feasibility study for roughly 400,000 sq m (4.3m sq ft) of proposed data centres on brownfield land beside Didcot Power Station. Nordic Energy will assess viability, heat sources and demand, delivery models and alignment with the new heat-network zoning rules (tender closes 9 November), reporting in March 2027.

   Why it matters: A council testing whether the build-out's waste heat can be captured — and doing it as a cluster, not scheme by scheme.

   Source: DCD [C]

5. 16 Oct 2026 UK Cardiff, Wales 150 MW Reported

   Cardiff data centre seeks its own gas power station

   The developer of a 150MW data centre at Cardiff East Park and Ride, near Llanrumney, is also seeking permission for a 'temporary' 49.9MW gas plant — five turbines plus a steam generator and two standby — to run from July 2028 for up to five years while it waits for a grid connection that may not arrive until 2030–34, plus 40 diesel backup generators. Friends of the Earth Cymru calls it 'climate-wrecking'; nearly all the area's MSs, a Welsh government minister and a senior Labour councillor have objected, and the Welsh government has issued a holding direction while it considers calling the scheme in.

   Why it matters: The grid queue is so long that developers are building power stations next door — and calling them temporary.

   Source: BBC News [C]

6. 15 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   Energy chiefs warn data centres could push up household bills

   The Times reports that energy chiefs have warned of a public backlash against data centres if a large rise in their number pushes up what households pay for power. It lands as the 'who pays for the grid?' question moves to the centre of the UK debate, echoing Moody's warning that Europe's data-centre demand could lift consumer prices unless governments intervene.

   Why it matters: Who pays for the power is becoming the fault line — not just whether it's green.

   Source: The Times [C]

7. 15 Oct 2026 UK Kent Approved

   Canterbury approves a landfill-gas data centre

   Canterbury City Council has approved Era4's data centre at the Shelford landfill site, powered by a private-wire connection to the neighbouring Valencia Energy Centre, which burns methane captured from the landfill. It draws around 140MWh a day at full use (~5.8MW continuous) — within the energy centre's average daily output — with South East Water capping water use at 20 cubic metres a day. It is part of an Era4/Valencia plan for eight landfill-gas data centres.

   Why it matters: The power source is the waste next door — a rare scheme whose energy is already on site.

   Source: Data Centre Review [C]

8. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 15 Oct UK Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland 1000 MW Consultation open

   Chapelcross objections near 5,000 — and the council stops publishing them

   Objections to the £16.5bn Chapelcross campus climbed towards 5,000 (about 1,000 in the first 48 hours), and Dumfries and Galloway Council changed its usual process — no longer publishing individual representations online, only a count and a summary at the end. The eight buildings are assessed at up to 40m high, and the developer targets a permission-in-principle decision in December 2026; consultation runs to 29 October. The Scottish Greens say 2,000+ objections were lodged through their portal in four days, and MSP Laura Moodie claims the site's greenhouse-gas emissions would be nearly double the limit for the whole of Dumfries and Galloway. On 15 October, Outlander star and Galloway native Sam Heughan added his voice, calling for a pause or moratorium, as the developer put the investment at £15.6bn; the Scottish Government declined the Greens' call for a pause but said it will publish planning guidance by Christmas and does not expect decisions before then.

   Why it matters: A 1GW scheme on a 'brownfield' pitch — with locals disputing how much of it is actually farmland.

   Source: Planning Geek [C]

   Changes (4)

   1. 15 Oct 2026 — Added Sam Heughan's opposition, the £15.6bn investment framing, and the Scottish Government declining a pause while promising guidance by Christmas.
   2. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the Scottish Greens' portal figure (2,000+ objections in four days) and Moodie's greenhouse-gas claim.
   3. 12 Oct 2026 — Added the 40m assessed building height and the developer's December 2026 permission-in-principle target.
   4. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
9. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   Gas microgrids pitched as 'sustainable' power for data centres

   AVK-SEG — the firm behind Europe's first gas-microgrid data centre (Pure DC's 90MW Dublin site) — is piloting gas turbines plus carbon capture to power data centres in northern England and lobbying to gas-power the AI boom, DeSmog reports. It notes the UK undercounted data-centre emissions by more than 100×; revised figures predict 123 Mt CO₂ from data centres by 2035.

   Why it matters: Fossil gas is being rebranded 'sustainable' — with carbon capture experts call unproven.

   Source: DeSmog [C]

10. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

    UK 'one of Europe's slowest-growing' data-centre markets

    Kearney puts UK demand growth at ~17.6% a year to 2030 — second-last in Europe behind Germany — against 37.6% (Finland) and 36.8% (Norway). Build cost is ~€2.25m/MW in the UK and Western Europe versus ~€600k in the Nordics; the fix is cheaper power, cheaper land and faster grid connections.

    Why it matters: The investment is mobile: as one consultancy put it, 'everything else will go where it is easier to build'.

    Source: Kearney via City AM [C]

11. 14 Oct 2026 UK North Tyneside, England 1100 MW Policy

    FOI: OpenAI and Nscale never visited the UK's flagship 'Stargate' site

    Freedom-of-information documents show neither OpenAI nor its partner Nscale met North Tyneside or North East officials before the government unveiled the Cobalt Park 'Stargate UK' data centre during Trump's September 2025 state visit; only Nvidia visited, five months later, and no grid connection was identified for the touted 1.1GW. (The FOI findings were first reported in July 2026.) The project was paused in April 2026; the government says a taskforce is still overseeing up to 400MW by 2028.

    Why it matters: The gap between an announcement and a project — and what FOI reveals about the flagship AI-growth case.

    Source: Computing / Guardian FOI [C]

12. 13 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

    The carbon bill for the UK's data-centre boom

    A fresh count puts the running UK estate at only ~1.5GW (about 1.5 Mt CO₂e a year), but the committed pipeline at 173 projects / 14.6GW — which would add roughly 12 Mt a year on today's grid, or 38 Mt if it all ran on gas. Weighted by region, about a third of the pipeline sits in the dirtiest areas (South England, Yorkshire, South Wales), and most planning documents say nothing about clean energy.

    Why it matters: The emissions are a by-product of siting for grid access, land and demand — not a technology accident.

    Source: Computer Weekly [C]

13. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Fife, Scotland 600 MW Consultation open

    600MW campus planned beside a 1,000-year-old castle

    ILI Group's 600MW 'Cato' campus near Auchtertool would sit by Hallyards Castle; Historic Environment Scotland declined to designate the castle because the application is already underway, and Scotland has a de facto moratorium on new hyperscale consents. After 14,000+ representations, Fife Council has stopped accepting objections by email — the second council (after Dumfries and Galloway) to restrict submissions on a hyperscale application.

    Why it matters: Heritage, farmland and consent risk, while national rules are still being written.

    Source: Carbon Neutral Data Center [V]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the 14,000+ representations and Fife Council stopping email objections.
    2. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
14. 3 Oct 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK Wokingham, Berkshire 72 MW Submitted

    Thames Valley Park 72MW submitted — gas-backed

    Now formally submitted (applicant FH Trustees, acting for Mapeley's Beta HL unit trust, Jersey-registered), the 72MW scheme replaces three former Microsoft buildings near Reading and relies on natural-gas fuel cells as a bridge: only 1.8MW of grid power is available at first, the larger connection is backstopped to 2037, and even then only ~60MW of the site's ~110MW peak is secured. Microsoft vacates the offices by Dec 2027; comments close 29 Oct (ref 262274). The technical plan also proposes exporting waste heat to a future district heating network serving the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the University of Reading and local schools; a decision is expected by March 2027.

    Why it matters: 'Green' data centres running on fossil gas for years, because the grid can't deliver in time.

    Source: Planning Geek [V]

    Changes (3)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the waste-heat-to-district-heating plan (Royal Berkshire Hospital, University of Reading, schools) and the expected March 2027 decision.
    2. 12 Oct 2026 — Confirmed formal submission (FH Trustees for Mapeley's Beta HL unit trust); wired in the fuel-cell bridge and the 2037 grid backstop.
    3. 3 Oct 2026 — First filed.
15. 27 Sep 2026 Updated 13 Oct UK North Devon 1500 MW Pre-application

    North Devon revolt over a 1.5GW campus in a UNESCO biosphere

    Xlinks has secured ~850 acres for a 1.5GW AI campus plus a 1.8GW battery in the North Devon biosphere — five buildings up to 40m high and ~96 acres of lithium-ion batteries. The North Devon Data Centre campaign has now launched, backing a national petition for a moratorium on data centres outside designated growth zones. FOI documents obtained by CPRE Devon show Xlinks has applied for AI Growth Zone designation — for up to 5GW of data centres — and that Torridge District Council is being pressed to write the Torrington site into its emerging Local Plan.

    Why it matters: The datacentre revolt arriving in a protected landscape — the same fight, a different field.

    Source: The Guardian [V]

    Changes (2)

    1. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the AI Growth Zone bid (up to 5GW) revealed by FOI, and the Local Plan allocation being weighed by Torridge.
    2. 27 Sep 2026 — First filed.