The UK Government recently published a Policy Paper on ‘Delivering AI Growth Zones’ with the aim of rapidly expanding the UK’s AI data centre capacity and securing its leadership in AI. This includes plans to:
- Build a suitable energy system for new AI data centres, including accelerating their connections to the grid, and implement a pricing support mechanism to reduce energy prices for AI data centres. This includes enabling developers to build and connect their own high-voltage lines and substations to achieve an accelerated connection date, and introducing a Connections Accelerator Service to offer engineering support to strategically important customers.
- Develop a new planning approach to prioritise and speed up the consenting process for AI data centres. It also plans to create a national team of AI data centre planning experts to advise local planning authorities on AI data centre applications and provide grant funding.
- Improve AI education and adoption in Growth Zones, for example by investing in local AI initiatives and businesses. Local authorities can retain 100% of business rate growth in AI Growth Zones for the next 25 years.
- Establish an AI Growth Zone Delivery Unit to support investors and developers interested in collaborating on the delivery of AI Growth Zones.
According to the paper, these measures will reduce the time it takes to access power by up to five years, saving a 500 MW data centre up to £80 million in electricity bills annually. They will also unlock up to £100 billion of investment, and create more than 10,000 jobs.
These plans are sure to have caught the attention of developers and investors interested in AI data centres. Plans are already underway; for example North Wales has just been announced as an AI Growth Zone.
Comment:
This announcement signals a significant escalation of the UK’s industrial strategy around AI. This presents significant opportunities for energy and technology clients, as it indicates a more predictable pipeline of AI-related demand, faster planning processes, and the government’s commitment to AI infrastructure.
Our colleagues in the Planning Team recently published this Law-Now article, which provides further details on these reforms.
