AI Data-Center Growth, Power Constraints & Local Impacts

Coverage describes longer data-center project timelines as grid access and local approvals become bottlenecks, while GlobalData projects electricity use rising from 590 TWh in 2025 to 1,520 TWh in 2030. A proposed £20bn Drax-site project could scale from up to 100MW in 2028 to over 1GW, but approvals, emissions, and power arrangements remain unresolved. Whether compute limits AI development today is disputed.