Implications of rapid data centre growth on the British power system and environment

Great Britain (GB) are investigated using a representative 14-zone model with a representation of the European electricity market developed for ANTARES. DCen demands pose challenges to power system operators in part because they can be large and significantly variable depending on the tasks they are carrying out and the type of DCen they are. Various externalities are investigated, such as carbon emissions and renewables curtailment, associated with changes to the demand profile of the system caused by different deployment scenarios related to volume and location relative to a baseline case projected by the UK’s electricity system operator as part of their Clean Power 2030 (CP30) plan. The scenarios are: a representative CP30 case; a case with increased deployment of DCens and a mix of AI and more “conventional” DCens deployed across the system in line with current DCen concentrations; and a case where various incentives push an increased proportion of DCens into Scotland. It is found that additional demand associated with DCens is associated with increases in emissions via the amount of gas generation used which could be problematic for meeting CP30 targets. Siting a proportion of

DCen demand in Scotland instead of concentration in the South of GB could reduce the scale of emissions increase and enable a reduction in the curtailment of wind in the system, helping alleviate one of the most significant transmission constraint boundaries on the GB system.