UK wants datacenters to pay a fee for grid connection requests

Ofgem is seeking feedback on proposals to levy a fee on datacenter development projects at the time they apply for a grid connection. The move aims to discourage companies from seeking approval for speculative applications that clog up the pipeline and cause connection delays, without ever resulting in finished datacenters. The UK regulator for electricity and gas says connection applications for electrical supply have surged from 41 gigawatts (GW) to 125 GW in under a year, with datacenters acc