Data Centre Watch Updated 23 October 2026, 23:21 UTC
Data Centre Watch
The local fight over one field is one row in a national rush. This is a rolling, fully sourced record of what changed — the schemes, the planning decisions, the power and water, and the wider world picture.
days under a hosepipe ban
Under a hosepipe ban for 106 days — since 10 July 2026 (as of 23 October 2026).
Affinity Water — Central region (incl. WD5), extended to the East region
11 areas in drought, parts of 4 in severe · reservoirs 54% · the water picture →
Latest
148 entries · showing 91–105
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Big Tech promises its AI data centres will ride out grid faults
Google, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia published a grid-interface specification through the Open Compute Project: during a voltage dip a site's compute load (about 70–90% of its draw) must stay connected and climb back to 90% within two seconds, rather than dropping off and shocking the grid. It follows events in which 1,500MW and more shed in an instant (2024, and a larger one on 22 July 2026). Cooling is excluded and the commitments are voluntary.
Why it matters: AI data centres are now big enough to destabilise the grid everyone shares — and the industry is writing its own rules before regulators do.
Source: madrobot / OCP [C]
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C$3.5bn, 320MW AI campus proposed where the town has halted data centres
BUZZ High Performance Computing proposes a C$3.5bn / 320MW campus in Oakville, Ontario — privately funding the connection, transformers, grid works and fibre — but Oakville has a one-year moratorium on data centres running to August 2027, which it may extend to two, against the company's H2 2027 target.
Why it matters: A scheme announced into a place that has just said 'not while we think' — the same collision as here.
Source: Compute Forecast [C]
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Crusoe files two more West Texas data centres, with Meta floated as tenant
Crusoe has filed for two Jayton buildings totalling ~1.5m sq ft and $4.8bn, alongside its Project Hyper/Childress campus — where Meta is reported as a prospective tenant. Linked regional investment reaches ~$12bn; construction could start January 2027, first building online May 2029.
Why it matters: Compute is sited by the gigawatt where the power is — in the same Texas grid that has just frozen new permits.
Source: TechRadar [C]
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Three more gigawatt-scale plans — Finland, Korea, India — on paper only
Sesterce plans a '€10bn' AI campus at a former Finnish paper mill (200MW first, then 600MW, aiming past 1GW); Sejong signed an MOU for a 360MW AI data centre (₩7tn through 2029); ReNew signed an MOU for a 750MW 'green' park near Mumbai. None shows financing, land, a grid deal or permits — all are announcements or MOUs.
Why it matters: A headline number is not a built data centre: the gap between the press release and the energised site is the whole story.
Source: TSN Media [C]
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Data-centre fires and power failures have doubled since 2024
The Energy Incident Register counts 8 electrical fires/power failures at data centres in 2024, 20 in 2025 and 19 already in 2026 — nearly half of its 93 incidents since 2010 clustering in the last three years. UPS and battery rooms (22) and backup generators (15) are the most common named failure points.
Why it matters: The build-out's physical fragility: more power density and compressed commissioning schedules, failing most often in the power gear.
Source: Energy Incident Register / DCD [C]
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Oracle's 1.3GW Wisconsin campus delayed as grid review restarts
State regulators withdrew the transmission application's completeness finding after 564 revisions were filed, resetting the clock and pushing grid connection — and customer delivery — past 2027. Morgan Stanley now warns full power may not arrive until October 2028 (downside: spring 2029).
Why it matters: Even a gigawatt-scale AI campus is now gated by the grid and its paperwork, not capital.
Source: TechBriefe [C]
Changes (2)
- — Morgan Stanley: full power may not arrive until October 2028 ('Project Lighthouse'); downside case runs to spring 2029.
- — First filed.
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Broadcom, Apollo and Blackstone launch a $35bn AI-infrastructure venture
Broadcom and the asset managers Apollo and Blackstone have formed a $35bn partnership to expand advanced AI computing capacity — another sign of the capital now chasing data-centre build-out.
Why it matters: The money is getting bigger and more financialised — the financing side of the boom, again.
Source: CNNBC [C]
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US: about half of 2026's planned data-centre capacity delayed or cancelled
Analysts put roughly half of the ~12GW of US data-centre capacity planned for 2026 as delayed or cancelled, with PJM wholesale prices up ~76% year on year and ~2,061GW stuck in interconnection queues. Local opposition has hardened: 379+ US jurisdictions now have moratoriums or bans, with ~$68bn of development stalled.
Why it matters: The binding constraint is now power and permits — and the backlash has become a nationwide planning fact.
Source: Achilles / inprofile [C]
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China switches on a wind-powered underwater data centre
The Shanghai Lingang Underwater Data Center — 24MW, ~10km offshore and ~10m beneath the sea — runs on a nearby offshore wind farm and uses seawater for cooling; officials say it uses 20%+ less energy than comparable land-based facilities. It entered service in May.
Why it matters: A different answer to the same problem — cooling and power — that the UK is still arguing about on land.
Source: Ilke News Agency [C]
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The UK's AI data-centre energy council has been left unconvened
The council set up to coordinate electricity for AI data centres has not met under the new Downing Street leadership, leaving developers and investors without a clear route to raise grid concerns. Officials are said to favour localised planning over a dedicated coordination body.
Why it matters: The one body meant to join up power and compute for AI has gone quiet — so who decides where the gigawatts go?
Source: Distilled Post [C]
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Indiana approves power plan for Google's 390MW Monrovia data centre
State regulators unanimously approved AES Indiana's solar, battery and transmission project to serve Google's 390MW Monrovia campus — the first filed under a 2025 law requiring large users to cover 80% of assigned costs. Google pays all direct costs, but $74m of network upgrades go into the retail rate base, which consumer advocates contested.
Why it matters: The 'who pays for the grid?' test, run through a regulator — and the first verdict under a who-pays law.
Source: WFYI [V]
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Nvidia forms an alliance to build a 'power-flexible' AI data centre
Nvidia has assembled partners into an alliance to build an AI data centre designed to flex its power consumption rather than demand a fixed maximum feed — a move upstream into the electricity bottleneck that gates its own accelerator market. Partners, capacity and timeline were not disclosed.
Why it matters: The chipmaker is now organising around power, not just silicon — because that's what caps how many chips can run.
Source: Die Signal / Yahoo Finance [C]
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AWS plans 36 data centres on a 4.5GW gas plant in Pennsylvania
A 36-building campus across 1,100 acres on the former Homer City coal station, powered mainly by a new 4.5GW gas plant being built alongside it; construction runs in four stages to 2036.
Why it matters: A coal station swapped for gas-fed compute — the scale and the carbon, in one site.
Source: EUROPE SAYS [C]
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SNP moves to freeze new datacentres in Scotland
An SNP national council motion calls for a moratorium on all new datacentres in Scotland, potentially covering projects without planning permission. It says the 24 hyperscale schemes in planning would together use more than one-and-a-half times Scotland's peak power demand.
Why it matters: The country positioned as the UK's AI powerhouse is debating hitting pause — the campaign's 'assess it first' argument, at national scale.
Source: DailySynapse [C]
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Lanarkshire AI growth zone questioned over land and jobs
Residents near Newarthill and Airdrie are questioning the promised benefits of the CoreWeave/DataVita zone: 1GW needs ~44 km² of nearby land by conservative estimates, but current holdings appear to be under a tenth of that, and Action to Protect Rural Scotland says the 3,400-job figure could be 'a hundred times' too high.
Why it matters: The gap between headline jobs/land claims and what is actually secured — the campaign's recurring question.
Source: DailySynapse [C]
Watchlist — what lands next
| What | State | When |
|---|---|---|
| Data-centre National Policy Statement (NPS) | Still unpublished; projects already being directed into the NSIP regime without it. | Expected 'shortly after' the Jan 2026 regulations |
| Ofgem 'Curate' data-centre connection reform | Consultation closed 17 Sep 2026; decision pending — commitment fee £237,500–£712,500/MW. | Decision later in 2026 |
| Scotland — hyperscale planning guidance | Parliament agreed no decisions on hyperscale applications until guidance is published. | Guidance expected by December 2026 |
| Draft London Plan — data-centre policy GLE3 | Consultation closed 15 October 2026; responses under consideration. | Next draft / adoption pending |
| National Scheme of Delegation for planning functions (SI 2026/854) | Standardises which applications go to officers vs committee; non-compliant committee decisions open to judicial review. | In force 31 October 2026 |
| EU data-centre standards and rating scheme | Commission has adopted a data-centre sustainability rating scheme; consultation on minimum performance standards remains open. | Consultation closes 14 December 2026 |
| Environmental Audit Committee report (HC 22) | Inquiry 'Risks and opportunities to the sustainability of data centres in the UK'; report + government response due. | Awaiting publication |
| Three Rivers Local Plan examination | Plan submitted; examination in H1 2027, adoption targeted Sep 2027. | Submission 30 November 2026 |
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Fully sourced, no invented numbers
Every entry names its source and how it is known — verified, a designated claim, our calculation, or a gap. Where a claim is contested, we say so. See all reports & explainers →