Britain faces obstacles building new data centres

Britain is struggling to build new data centres, even though demand for them is growing fast. Existing centres are clustered in East London, close to the Canary Wharf financial district, because that location helps banks and traders send data at high speed. However, high electricity prices make running these facilities expensive, and planning rules make it hard to build new ones. Electricity use by UK data centres is expected to roughly quadruple before 2030. The facilities also need large amounts of water to stay cool. Energy regulators are now considering rules that would force data centres to use less power when the national grid is under pressure. If Britain cannot solve these problems, it may lose investment to other countries.