Developers in some parts of London may face a new investment ban by 2035 as data centers consume too much grid power.
According to sources reported by Financial times (opens in a new tab)The Greater London Authority (GLA) wrote to programmers that it could take “more than a decade” for power to go to zero.
Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow are the three affected areas which, according to FT estimates, account for 11% of London’s housing supply.
What’s causing the problem?
The GLA highlighted that “data centers use large amounts of electricity, the equivalent of cities or small towns, to power servers and provide resilience in operation” in the note.
David O’Leary, director of policy at the Home Builders Federation, said it would “affect 25 units or more,” telling the newspaper that the increasing use of low-carbon technologies such as electric vehicles could make the problem worse
There has been a plethora of data center developments in West London in recent years.
These include the Ark Data Centers projects on Western Avenue, Park Royal and the campus of UK data center operator Virtus based in Stockley Park.
Some steps are being taken to remedy this issue. National Grid and the utility company SSEN are said to be increasing network capacity in the note, but “it could take years.”
Not only does the electricity deficit affect data centers, but extreme weather conditions as well.
UK-owned Google Cloud and Oracle data centers had an impact last week as the UK heatwave ruled them out of operation by 40C (104F) weather.
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