Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the volume of data centre projects in the electricity transmission connections queue on network capacity and system costs.

The Department is aware of the volume of data centre projects in the connections queue, and on 12 March, published a consultation on measures to manage oversubscription and secure capacity for viable data centre projects, while meeting the needs of the energy system. These include increasing financial requirements on data centres to obtain or retain a connection agreement and moving to a strategically aligned process for data centre connections in future.

The consultation also asks about the impact of flexible connection agreements on data centres to further secure system operability and protect consumers from unnecessary costs while supporting timely connections.