Sadiq Khan’s master plan to fit more data centres in London
Key Points
- London's power grid is stretched to its limit by data centres, and Mayor Sadiq Khan is stepping in to ensure energy infrastructure keeps pace with demand.
- Khan said data centres have become critical infrastructure and integral to London's economy, and he has pledged to support their growth in an environmentally friendly way.
- Previous studies showed that data centres were competing with housebuilding projects for energy grid connections, imperiling the housing ambitions of the capital.
- Khan has said his next London Plan will include a policy that addresses this risk and supports data centre growth while also supporting residents in London.
London’s power grid has been stretched to its limit by data centres, and Mayor Sadiq Khan is stepping in to ensure energy infrastructure keeps pace with demand.
Khan has said he wants London to be the global leader in Green Data Centre innovation, growing its data centre capacity in a way that is energy-efficient and empowers the people living in the city.
According to a report revealed by the Mayor at London Tech Week, there are currently 99 sites in London consuming 760MW of power at peak demand, which is the same as 750,000 homes.
Energy infrastructure is the bottleneck for data centre growth in London, as 10-times the capacity already used by existing data centres is waiting to connect to the grid.
Khan said that data centres have become a vital part of London’s infrastructure, critical to the day-to-day functioning of the city’s economy. For this growth to continue, it is important that energy infrastructure keeps pace with this demand.
Improving the grid’s capacity and its ability to connect new properties may be good news for data centres, but previous reports have shown that rapid data centre development have impacted housebuilding.
A report by the London Assembly’s Planning and Regeneration Committee previously found that the increasing number of large data centres in London has led to them competing with new housing for limited supply of energy, potentially preventing or delaying housebuilding projects.
Khan has said he will host a roundtable with various stakeholders in the coming weeks to address the demand from data centres and has urged Government to address the growing queue of data centres waiting to connect to the grid.
The Mayor also plans to continue growing London’s data centre capacity in a way that prioritises green energy and efficient infrastructure. He has already implemented a system with the OPEN heat network that uses waste heat created by data centres to warm homes and businesses.
He added that his next London Plan will include a data centre policy to directly address the environmental impact of data centres and align their growth with the capital’s housebuilding ambitions.
“The energy requirements of data centres are colossal, so delivering their expansion at pace alongside London’s other infrastructure needs will require more coordinated planning,” Khan said.
“Closer partnership between the private and public sector, and across all levels of Government, will be vital.”
“That is why I am committed to leading a whole-city partnership approach, shaped around climate, resilience and responsible AI, as we work together to build a better, more prosperous London for everyone,” he added.
