Picture:
Alamy
Energy bills could be hiked as data centres expand across the UK to accommodate artificial intelligence.
The number of data centres across the nation is set to increase by almost a fifth.
Data centres are warehouses, the size of shopping centres, full of computers used to fun digital services.
Services range from streaming films to online banking, with 477 centres already operating in the UK.
Almost 100 new data centres are now set to be built, said construction researchers Barbour ABI, as more processing power is needed for artificial intelligence (AI), with the majority appearing in the next five years.
Experts have warned that the power needed for the new centres could drive up energy prices paid by consumers.
Read More: ChatGPT users with AI ‘boyfriends’ left devasted after ‘cold’ upgrade
Read More: Where the wired things are: Robot antelope monitors herds in Tibet
Picture:
Alamy
Dr Sasha Luccioni, AI and climate lead at machine learning firm Hugging Face, explained to the BBC that “average citizens in places like Ohio are seeing their monthly bills go up by $20 (£15) because of data centres”.
Half of the giant centres are planned to be in London, a further nine are planned in Wales, one in Scotland, five in Greater Manchester and the rest in other parts of the UK, data suggests.
The largest data centre has been revealed to be an AI data centre Blyth, near Newcastle, for the American private investment and wealth management company Blackstone Group.
10 large buildings would be built covering 540,000 square metres on the site of the former Blyth Power Station.
Building work is set to begin in 2031 and last for more than three years.
Microsoft plans to build four new data centres in the UK, completing between 2027 and 2029, at a cost of £330 million, with two in the Leeds area, one near Newport in Wales, and a large site in Acton, north-west London
Google will build one of the warehouses in Hertfordshire, investing £740 million, which will opt to use air to cool its servers rather than the usual water.
The government has designated the centres as critical national infrastructure, which are central to the country’s economic future.
Picture:
LBC
Dr Luccioni said the speed at which these centres were being built was “aggressive” and called for “mechanisms for companies to pay the price for extra energy to power data centres – not consumers”.
According to the National Energy System Operator, NESO, the projected growth of data centres in Great Britain could “add up to 71 TWh of electricity demand” in the next 25 years.
The operator says the energy use redoubles the need for clean power – such as offshore wind.
Stephen Hone, chief executive of industry body the Data Centre Alliance, says “ensuring there is enough water and electricity powering data centres isn’t something the industry can solve on its own”.
Mr Hone insisted “data centres are fixated with becoming as sustainable as possible”.
Planning documents suggest 28 of the new data centres would be likely to be serviced by Thames Water.
A spokesperson for the UK government told the BBC data centres were “essential” and an AI Energy Council had been established to make sure supply can meet demand.
This is alongside £104bn in water infrastructure investment.