EXPERT COMMENT: Data centres need to adopt eco-friendly strategies to grow and accelerate AI

Jamie McAinsh, Chief Operating Officer of Aurora Utilities, said:

“The acceleration of AI has led to heightened demand for data centres across Europe. The UK’s data centre market had a value of around $8billion in 2023, and is projected to reach nearly $10billion by 2030. However, these buildings are power-hungry, requiring energy for 24/7 cooling of server racks. To put this into perspective, a 100 MVA data centre has the energy demand equivalent to 50,000 flats. 

“The UK is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, but that is at odds with the government’s “pro-innovation” approach. It has been reported that data has the potential to transform the British economy, and AI could potentially increase the size of the UK’s GDP by £550billion by 2035. However, to balance both our net zero ambitions and AI potential, data centres need to be eco-friendly, with low carbon strategies and energy efficiencies at the core of the build.

“We are supporting data centre operators with this challenge. Aurora can offer ramping agreements that allow the centre to gradually increase its electrical capacity in-line with its growth. This alleviates the initial capacity requirement for connecting to the existing grid, allowing reinforcement to catch up as the data centre ramps up its capacity. 

“This means that the data centre operator and its customers don’t have to pay for unused capacity upfront. Through our ramping agreements, a data centre operator pays only for used capacity, reserving extra capacity for future needs at no additional cost. 

“This model can reduce capacity charges by up to 70%, significantly lowering data centre operating expenses. In fact, we have calculated that a 250MVA data centre could save up to £3million annually by operating at 50% capacity initially, that’s £15million in five years. They can then reinvest those costs into low carbon solutions and technologies such as solar and combined heat and power (CHP). For data centres, adopting a ramping model is both cost-effective and a step towards a sustainable future, for the UK, it can unlock AI’s potential to secure our place as world leaders in digitalisation, whilst not having to compromise our net zero commitments.”