United Infrastructure has been tasked with leading the creation of standardised electricity connection archetypes for data centres, substations, high voltage compounds and other common arrangements.
The decision emerged from a roundtable held in Cardiff attended by more than 30 senior representatives from energy, digital infrastructure and development sectors. The initiative brings together network operators, data centre developers, technology providers, utilities, legal advisers, government bodies and infrastructure businesses in a concerted effort to address mounting grid constraints.
Global electricity consumption from data centres and artificial intelligence is projected to more than double by 2030. In the UK, data centres currently account for approximately 2.5 percent of electricity consumption. That share is expected to quadruple by 2030. In London, requests sitting in the grid connection queue are roughly ten times the capacity of existing data centres. The average lead time for a new 50 megawatt connection there stands at approximately seven years.
Some developers have begun turning to the gas grid for on-site generation. Enquiries to gas networks rose exponentially in 2025. The standardisation work led by United Infrastructure aims to reduce complexity, improve efficiency and accelerate connections amid demand from artificial intelligence and hyperscale projects.
Akshay Kaul, Director General of Infrastructure at Ofgem, attended the roundtable and addressed the growth of data centres. He said the rapid expansion presented both challenge and opportunity for the energy system.
The rapid growth in data centres presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the energy system. It was encouraging to see how technologies like fuel cells could complement the grid, and these insights will be important in shaping a flexible, resilient and future-ready energy system.
Neil Armstrong, CEO of United Infrastructure, welcomed the mandate. He noted that the company's engineering teams had earned recognition for accelerating time to power, with many data centre schemes now classed as nationally significant infrastructure. Interest in its gas-to-power solutions has reached unprecedented levels.
