Who powers the next data centre?

In effect, strategic data centres now jump the queue. The Data Centre Covenant, published on 28 October, lets government use new Planning and Infrastructure Act powers to reserve future grid capacity for strategic demand projects, data centres included, and reallocate capacity "released when other projects leave the connections queue". A Ministerial Control Centre will "accelerate time to power" for the most strategic sites. The goal is the 6 GW of AI data centre capacity the government says the UK needs by 2030.¹

That queue holds demand and generation alike, and the Covenant does not say released capacity comes from generators. But a connection you hand back can now power someone else's AI campus.

So where will that power come from? The easiest way to power a data centre is to buy a power station that has stopped working. The land is flat, the planners know it, and the grid already goes there. Those sites are already being worked, mostly in deals led by the utilities that own them.

This issue looks at how those deals work, why the supply of them is limited, and where that leaves a developer or IPP with 50 to 300 people and a connection date in the diary. The short version: a data centre is still a customer, a partner and a rival for your connection. But as the obvious sites go, it is more likely to come knocking.

Landlords with chimneys

Start with Didcot. RWE spent years turning its old Didcot A coal site in Oxfordshire into a data centre campus with planning permission. In November 2025 it sold the project to an unnamed hyperscaler for about €225 million.² In July 2026 the Environment Agency issued the site's backup generator permit to Amazon Data Services UK.³ DCD noted that Didcot was the only data centre RWE had planned in the UK.² One site, one sale.

Uniper says it has found more than ten of its own European sites suited to data centres, and that "a first project in the United Kingdom has already been completed". It does not say which.⁴ It plans to make money from selling or leasing sites, co-investing, and supplying power through PPAs.⁴ At Ratcliffe on Soar, Rushcliffe Council approved changes to the site's development order in May 2026 to allow data centres on the southern part. Its cabinet report says Uniper has applied to National Grid for a new 720 MW connection for them.⁵

EDF, Holtec and Tritax plan a 1 GW data centre campus at the former Cottam coal station in Nottinghamshire, citing its grid connections, in an area put forward as an AI Growth Zone.⁶ Didcot, Ratcliffe and Cottam are the same play.

The obvious sites are running out

The catch is arithmetic. Each utility has only so many old power stations, and the grid around the busiest data centre hubs is full.

Ofgem's July figures put the queue to connect new demand at 125 GW, up from 41 GW in under a year, with at least 80 GW of it data centres.⁸ It has proposed a commitment fee of £237,500 to £712,500 per MW to clear out speculative projects. As of this week, that consultation is still "awaiting decision".⁹

Now look at West London. National Grid says its Iver substation "has reached capacity and cannot be expanded". It is building Uxbridge Moor next door to connect over a dozen data centres needing about 1.8 GW, with completion expected in 2029.¹⁰ For the wider West London area, the Greater London Authority gives 2037 for the transmission upgrades.¹¹

Even a very large generator can find the sums do not add up. The government rejected a North Yorkshire AI Growth Zone bid that proposed a 1.2 GW data centre powered by Drax. DCD, citing the York Press, says it failed the criteria, including "credible plans for energy delivery". Drax now plans a first 100 MW phase drawing power from the grid.¹² Meanwhile Reuters reported that Microsoft walked away from Nscale's Loughton site after being told power was not expected until the 2030s.¹³

The government is not promising to fix this for everyone. Its AI Growth Zone guidance says its "ability to accelerate power connection timelines is extremely limited". It accepts "a credible behind-the-meter solution" instead of a grid letter, and it favours sites near land suited to low carbon generation and storage.¹⁵

There. That last line is an invitation, and it is not addressed to the utilities.

Where you come in

Much of that 125 GW will never be built. This is about the good sites, not all of them. But the good sites now depend on things smaller developers tend to hold: a dated connection, a consented battery, generation near load, or simply the patience to sit through planning. With the power station sites spoken for, two routes remain, with five openings between them.

Route one: bring generation and storage to the load

Longmarsh Green Energy in Norfolk proposes 1.3 GW of solar and batteries beside a data centre campus, on a Gate 2 connection expected in 2031. It is at consultation, with no end user named.¹⁶

1. Be the second wave site. Clearstone withdrew its 300 MW Dartford battery in October 2025, days before committee, after officers recommended refusal.¹⁷ On 1 July 2026 it launched the 300 MW Ebbsfleet AI Data Centre Campus, and the government has directed it into the national infrastructure consenting route.¹⁸ Apatura has applied for a 300 MW data centre at Larbert on confirmed grid connections, with first power planned for 2028.¹⁹ Noventum has started converting some of its own connections for data centres and is weighing project sales.²⁰ Statera, best known for batteries, has asked Thurrock for an environmental scoping opinion on a data centre campus with battery storage on site.²¹ One warning: NESO treats a full battery to data centre switch as a material technology change with a later queue position.²² Changing technology costs you your place in the queue, and nobody gets it back.

2. Share the connection, do not swap it. Manor Farm, in the Slough area, won approval from the Secretary of State in June 2026.²³ Its data centre will share connection capacity with transmission connected batteries via a private wire, 107 MW of import in total.²⁴ Apatura's Larbert campus will also connect to its consented battery site two miles north.¹⁹ Its Westerhill campus pairs 300 MW of data centre with a 500 MW battery.²⁵ You keep the battery, and the data centre becomes the anchor customer.

3. Sell the bridge. Waiting for the grid is now a design problem. QTS's Cambois campus in Northumberland will run on temporary substations until National Grid's second stage connection, currently anticipated for 2031 or 2032.²⁶ A proposed campus in Reading would run on gas fuel cells until 2037.²⁷ Uniper sells "Bridge-to-Grid" as a product.²⁸ A battery or solar site near a waiting data centre is a lower carbon bridge, especially as Ofgem looks at phased and non-firm demand connections.²⁹

Route two: sell flexibility across a portfolio

The Covenant asks strategic sites to "support grid resilience, flexibility and clean power".¹ Load can move. In a London trial with National Grid, Emerald AI cut a GPU cluster's demand by up to 40% in under a minute without stopping critical work.³⁰ Google shifts non-urgent compute "to other times and locations" when a grid is stressed.³¹ My read: a battery or solar site that flexes with the operator helps it pass that test.

4. Flex near the hubs. In West London, SSEN tried to buy flexibility to free up capacity and fell short. Providers said there were too few assets to aggregate.¹¹ If you can put flexible capacity near a constrained hub, the buyer is not going away soon.

5. Supply contracts are not just for the majors. Global Switch buys 70 GWh a year from RWE's 57.4 MW Brechfa Forest West wind farm.³² It also signed a ten year deal for 55 GWh a year of solar from an undisclosed generator, with Drax in the middle under its sleeving service.³³ You do not need a data centre site to sell to a data centre.

So before you hand back a stalled connection, ask who else could use it, and whether you could be in the deal.

The decision

So the question for your next portfolio review is simple to ask and harder to answer. Which of your sites is worth more as a data centre's partner than as the project you planned, and do you want to sell that value or keep it?

Selling is the RWE route: take the price and move on. Sharing keeps the battery or solar revenue and adds an anchor customer, but you take on private wire consents, licence exemption questions and a counterparty whose demand never sleeps. Switching outright can work, as Clearstone shows, but it can mean a new planning route and a new place in the queue.

Then there is counterparty risk. A hyperscaler that walks away, as Microsoft did at Loughton, leaves you with a site shaped for a customer you no longer have.¹³

What to do this quarter

• Screen the portfolio. For each site: connection date and MW, distance to a data centre cluster or growth zone, land, water, and planning route.
• Pick a route per site. Hold and supply, share, sell, or partner. Write down why.
• Check the connections you might drop. Before letting a stalled offer go, confirm its queue position and milestone dates, and ask whether the site could host co-located demand instead, or who else could use it. Mind the queue rule in opening 1. What counts as a "strategic" data centre is still to come "in due course".¹
• Approach operators as a supplier. Lead with what the Covenant asks of them: clean power, flexibility and, where you have one, a connection or former plant site to share. Say which route you are offering.
• Watch the dates. Gate 2 Phase 1 offers were due by 31 October, and distribution offers follow by 30 November.³⁴ CMP470, with its exemption for some co-located projects, is listed for decision on 12 November.³⁵ Ofgem's data centre fee has no date yet.⁹
• Prepare the pack before the call. Site data, connection terms and your preferred structure, ready for when a data centre developer rings.
• Let software do the watching. Planning portals, connection registers and growth zone news change weekly. Agentic tools now do this kind of monitoring well, flagging changes near your sites and laying options side by side. People still make the call.

The portfolio question

The utilities moved first because they controlled the obvious sites. Smaller developers now hold a different kind of value: dated connections, consented batteries, generation near load and sites that can flex. One question for this week: which of your sites would a data centre developer call about first, and do you know what you would say?

Reply and tell me. I read every one.

Sources

1. GOV.UK, The Data Centre Covenant, 28 Oct 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-centre-covenant/the-data-centre-covenant
2. DCD, "RWE completes sale of planned Didcot Data Campus in Oxfordshire, UK", 14 Nov 2025: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/rwe-completes-sale-of-planned-didcot-data-campus-in-oxfordshire-uk/
3. Environment Agency, permit EPR/GP3127LV issued 27 Jul 2026 to Amazon Data Services UK Limited, Didcot North Data Centre Campus, former Didcot A Power Station: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a7077d10ddb7e4831c62b62/Application_Bespoke_A001_Permit_-27072026.pdf
4. Uniper, "Uniper Reaffirms Strategy", Jul 2026: https://www.uniper.energy/news/uniper-reaffirms-strategy-billions-to-be-invested-in-the-energy-system-transformation
5. Rushcliffe Borough Council, Cabinet report, Ratcliffe on Soar LDO amendment, 12 May 2026, paras 1.2 and 4.17: https://democracy.rushcliffe.gov.uk/documents/s19209/Ratcliffe%20on%20Soar%20Power%20Station%20Local%20Development%20Order%20Amendment.pdf ; LDO page, "The Council approved revisions to the Ratcliffe on Soar Local Development Order (LDO) on 12 May 2026": https://www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/planning-growth/planning-policy/ratcliffe-local-development-order/
6. EDF UK, "Holtec International, EDF UK and Tritax announce plans to develop Cottam site with data centres and advanced nuclear technologies", Sep 2025 (company source): https://www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/holtec-international-edf-uk-and-tritax-announce-plans-develop-cottam-site-data-centres-and ; status (pre-application, no data centre planning application found by 16 Oct 2026): https://datacentrewatch.uk/scheme/cottam/
7. Map, power station sites with public data centre plans, as of 30 Oct 2026. Didcot A: DCD, 14 Nov 2025, and EA permit EPR/GP3127LV (sources for Didcot above). Ratcliffe on Soar: Rushcliffe cabinet report and LDO page (above). Cottam: EDF UK and Data Centre Watch (above). Drax (still generating): DCD, 16 Oct 2026 (above). Eggborough, Microsoft, two data centre buildings, reserved matters approved by North Yorkshire Council 13 Sep 2024: DCD, 29 Feb 2024: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-to-build-data-center-campus-on-former-power-station-site-in-north-yorkshire-uk/ ; Data Centre Watch (not clear whether work started before the 13 Sep 2026 expiry): https://datacentrewatch.uk/scheme/microsoft-eggborough-data-centre-campus/ ; Ferrybridge C coal yard, Jigsaw UK Development (Mountpark), four data centre buildings, reserved matters approved by Wakefield Council 11 Jul 2025, ref 23/00100/REM01: https://datacentrewatch.uk/scheme/ferrybridge-coal-yard/ ; Cockenzie, East Lothian Council with SDCL as preferred partner, 200MW of data halls proposed, no planning application: East Lothian Council report, 25 Aug 2026: https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/ELC20260825%2012%20Data%20Centre%20at%20Cockenzie_0.pdf . Locations approximate. Outline: Natural Earth (public domain).
8. Ofgem press release, 29 Jul 2026: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/ofgem-acts-free-grid-capacity-tackling-speculative-data-centre-projects
9. Ofgem, Proposed data centre connection reforms, status "Closed (awaiting decision)", checked 26 Oct 2026: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consultation/proposed-data-centre-connection-reforms
10. National Grid, 2 Jun 2025: https://www.nationalgrid.com/media-centre/press-releases/national-grid-work-on-a-new-substation-in-Buckinghamshire ; project page (completion 2029): https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-transmission/network-and-infrastructure/infrastructure-projects/uxbridge-moor-substation
11. GLA, West London Electricity Capacity Constraints Update, Feb 2025: https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/downloads/file/13840/ex19-gla-west-london-electricity-capacity-issue-update-document-february-2025-
12. DCD, 16 Oct 2026: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/uk-govt-rejects-ai-growth-zone-bid-to-power-data-center-with-drax-biomass-plant-in-selby-north-yorkshire/
13. Reuters via Investing.com, 19 Oct 2026: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/microsoft-pulls-out-of-uk-nscale-data-centre-deal-over-power-delay-4960690
14. Map, AI Growth Zones as of 30 Oct 2026 (five announced; the Covenant also refers to "the five AI Growth Zones across England, Scotland and Wales"). GOV.UK collection: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ai-growth-zones ; Oxfordshire, Culham (30 Apr 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/investors-and-local-authorities-gear-up-as-ai-growth-zone-delivery-gathers-speed ; North East, Blyth and Cobalt Park (16 Sep 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/us-uk-pact-will-boost-advances-in-drug-discovery-create-tens-of-thousands-of-jobs-and-transform-lives ; North Wales, Anglesey and Trawsfynydd (13 Nov 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-growth-zones-to-create-thousands-of-jobs-and-unlock-up-to-100-billion-in-investment-as-new-site-confirmed-for-north-wales ; South Wales, Newport to Bridgend (20 Nov 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-to-power-national-renewal-as-government-announces-billions-of-additional-investment-and-new-plans-to-boost-uk-businesses-jobs-and-innovation ; Lanarkshire, DataVita with CoreWeave, up to 500MW (Hansard written statement, 29 Jan 2026): https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-01-29/debates/26012932000009/LanarkshireAIGrowthZoneAndAIOpportunitiesActionPlan and GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-than-3400-jobs-and-targeted-support-for-local-communities-to-help-tackle-the-cost-of-living-as-lanarkshire-named-latest-ai-growth-zone ; Covenant: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-centre-covenant/the-data-centre-covenant . Locations approximate. Outline: Natural Earth (public domain).
15. DSIT, AI Growth Zones: open for applications, updated 13 Jun 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-growth-zones/ai-growth-zones-open-for-applications
16. Longmarsh Green Energy (EPL Norfolk Limited, a subsidiary of Evolution Power), "New 1.3GW solar farm and 1GW co-located data centre proposed in Norfolk", 15 Oct 2026 (company source): https://longmarshgreenenergy.co.uk/solar-farm-and-data-centre-proposed-in-norfolk ; Planning Inspectorate inception meeting note, EN0110048 (Gate 2 connection at Walpole; "There is currently not a specific end user"): https://nsip-documents.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/published-documents/EN0110048-000003-Longmarsh%20Green%20Energy%20-%20Inception%20Meeting%20note%20(Final).pdf
17. KentOnline, 20 Oct 2025: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/it-s-frustrating-bosses-behind-energy-storage-facility-a-331317/
18. Clearstone Energy, 1 Jul 2026: https://www.clearstoneenergy.com/ebbsfleet-ai-data-centre-campus/ ; DCD, 3 Jul 2026: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/300mw-data-center-campus-proposed-in-kent-uk/
19. Apatura, 9 Jun 2026: https://apatura.energy/news-insights/larbert-data-centre-campus-plans-submitted-to-falkirk-council-for-larbert-data-centre-campus/
20. New Project Media, 20 Aug 2026: https://newprojectmedia.com/united-kingdom-noventum-power-eyes-data-centre-grid-conversions-project-sales/
21. Echo, Thurrock planning decisions, ref 26/00894/SCO, "EIA Required": https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26523916.thurrock-plans-week-indoor-go-karting-venue-approved/ ; Thurrock Nub News: https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/data-centre-proposed-on-tilbury-farmland-and-flood-plain-307364
22. NESO, Guidance on Material Technology Changes, May 2025: https://www.neso.energy/document/360446/download
23. Tritax Big Box REIT, RNS, 10 Jun 2026: https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/tritax-big-box-reit--bbox/statement-re-manor-farm-data-centre/9611804
24. Manor Farm appeal, proof of evidence of Tim O'Reilly (date not stated on page): https://www.slough.gov.uk/downloads/file/5286/cd-11-15-proof-of-evidence-tim-o-reilly
25. Apatura, Westerhill project page: https://consult.apatura.energy/westerhill/the-project
26. Arcadis for QTS, Cambois Data Centre Campus Temporary Substations NPG2, Health Impact Assessment Summary, Jul 2026: https://docs.planning.org.uk/20260810/97/TJEQAUQSGFD00/ejwf7ta3c45a7i9m.pdf
27. Computer Weekly, 6 Oct 2026: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366651682/Microsoft-campus-datacentre-to-rely-on-gas-fuel-cells-until-2037
28. Uniper, Data Center page: https://www.uniper.energy/data-center
29. Ofgem, Demand Connections Call for Input, 12 Feb 2026: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-02/2026-02-12-Demand-Connections-Call-for-Input.pdf
30. National Grid, "UK-first trial of AI Grid Technology successfully demonstrates the ability of data centres to adjust power needs", 2 Mar 2026 (five days, Dec 2025, 96 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs at Nebius's London data centre): https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk-first-trial-ai-grid-technology-successfully-demonstrates-ability-data-centres-adjust-power-needs
31. Google Cloud blog, "Using demand response to reduce data center power consumption", 3 Oct 2023 ("shifting some non-urgent compute tasks to other times and locations"; some tasks "rerouted to a data center on a different power grid"): https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/using-demand-response-to-reduce-data-center-power-consumption ; Google, "How we're making data centers more flexible to benefit power grids", 4 Aug 2025 (Centrica Energy and Elia in Belgium; Indiana Michigan Power and TVA in the US): https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/infrastructure-and-cloud/global-network/how-were-making-data-centers-more-flexible-to-benefit-power-grids/
32. RWE, 22 Jan 2026: https://uk.rwe.com/press-and-news/2026-01-22-wind-power-from-rwe-powers-global-switchs-london-data-centre/
33. DCD, 3 Jun 2026: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/global-switch-inks-10-year-solar-corporate-ppa-with-drax-in-uk/
34. Ofgem, letter agreeing revised Gate 2 Phase 1 timetable, 2 Oct 2026: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-10/Ofgem-agreement-for-revision-to-G2TWQ-timetable.pdf
35. Ofgem, CMP470 minded-to consultation, Sep 2026: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-09/CMP470-Minded-to-Consultation.pdf ; decision date from NESO CUSC Panel Headline Report, 25 Sep 2026, "12 November (Previously 14 October 2026)": https://www.neso.energy/document/388581/download.

Commercial commentary, not legal, regulatory or investment advice. Project and connection terms vary. Sources checked 30 October 2026.