Grid connection delays hampering sustainability efforts
Grid connections in the UK are a “blocker” to the data centre industry that will encourage greater use of fossil-fuel energy, an expert has warned.
The incoming head of sustainability at data centre consultancy BCS, James Rogers Jones, told Data Centre: Demand that the unavailability of grid connections was forcing data centre developers to turn to gas-fuelled power supplies. “What we are seeing is developers turn to gas in the short term.
“There have to be better solutions if we’re trying to bring more green electrons onto the grid.”
Rogers Jones is leading BCS’s new sustainable development service, which has been set up in response to the growing pressure on data centres in terms of power availability, planning risk and community acceptance.
“A community won't want a gas power plant in the backyard. But if we are helping to enable and finance an offshore wind farm, if we're helping to enable and finance a solar farm or a hydro plant … the jobs that that would create in the community are positive assets.”
Rogers Jones said he could understand why there had been a backlash against data centres in the US. “If my energy prices were going up, of course I'm going to go and start asking questions. So I do think it is entirely justified for there to be a reaction to that.”
He added it was vital that developers of data centres engaged with communities in the planning phase for projects. “You can make sites real community assets, but you have to talk to them [the community] to do that.”
Rogers Jones said the industry had been “shrouded in secrecy” but was now firmly in the public eye. Data centre developers needed to embed sustainability into each project early on and ask what they could do for local people. “Okay, what are your objectives here? How can we make the site work for you and for the community it’s going to be placed in? That's where we can have a real impact.
“Ultimately, we need to get to a place where a data centre coming into a community is seen as a positive asset.”
The government’s plans for AI Growth Zones are intended to help rejuvenate communities in regions such as the Northeast and parts of Wales. Rogers Jones said that while it was positive that the government had acknowledged the opportunity presented by data centres, the jury was out on whether the zones would be effective.
He said the AI Growth Zones were a “knee-jerk” reaction to the desire to cluster a flood of planning applications. “I think the industry is still waiting to find out the realities of what a growth zone means.”
The incoming head of sustainability at data centre consultancy BCS, James Rogers Jones, told Data Centre: Demand that the unavailability of grid connections was forcing data centre developers to turn to gas-fuelled power supplies. “What we are seeing is developers turn to gas in the short term.
“There have to be better solutions if we’re trying to bring more green electrons onto the grid.”
Rogers Jones is leading BCS’s new sustainable development service, which has been set up in response to the growing pressure on data centres in terms of power availability, planning risk and community acceptance.
“A community won't want a gas power plant in the backyard. But if we are helping to enable and finance an offshore wind farm, if we're helping to enable and finance a solar farm or a hydro plant … the jobs that that would create in the community are positive assets.”
Rogers Jones said he could understand why there had been a backlash against data centres in the US. “If my energy prices were going up, of course I'm going to go and start asking questions. So I do think it is entirely justified for there to be a reaction to that.”
He added it was vital that developers of data centres engaged with communities in the planning phase for projects. “You can make sites real community assets, but you have to talk to them [the community] to do that.”
Rogers Jones said the industry had been “shrouded in secrecy” but was now firmly in the public eye. Data centre developers needed to embed sustainability into each project early on and ask what they could do for local people. “Okay, what are your objectives here? How can we make the site work for you and for the community it’s going to be placed in? That's where we can have a real impact.
“Ultimately, we need to get to a place where a data centre coming into a community is seen as a positive asset.”
The government’s plans for AI Growth Zones are intended to help rejuvenate communities in regions such as the Northeast and parts of Wales. Rogers Jones said that while it was positive that the government had acknowledged the opportunity presented by data centres, the jury was out on whether the zones would be effective.
He said the AI Growth Zones were a “knee-jerk” reaction to the desire to cluster a flood of planning applications. “I think the industry is still waiting to find out the realities of what a growth zone means.”
