AI boom risks pushing UK further away from 2030 carbon goals
LONDON - Britain is relying on a renewables expansion that is too slow to meet the booming power needs of data centres and risks missing its 2030 decarbonisation targets as a result.
Regardless of whether the nation's data centre build-out maintains its current momentum or accelerates, increasing electricity demand will not allow it to meet its end-of-decade goal for a clean power system, market analytics firm Aurora Energy Research said in a report.
That is because higher demand will likely need to be met with natural gas. Aurora said it is possible to avoid missing decarbonisation goals if the UK expands its grid and renewable infrastructure by more than what is currently planned.
Tech companies across the globe are hungry for stable supplies of electricity, with gas-fired power plants often favoured due to their ability to meet 24-7 electricity needs.
In the US, large firms such as Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have reported soaring emissions amid higher energy use, while Meta Platforms Inc. signed a 20-year deal to buy nuclear power.
Aurora sees data centre demand reaching as much as 10 per cent of total UK power demand by 2030, up from 4 per cent in 2025.
The UK government is keen to tap into the economic growth offered by the data centre sector, but has also set out clear green goals around its power system. BLOOMBERG
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