The UK government's hailed AI supercomputer project in Loughton, Essex, will miss its planned launch next year and could be delayed into the mid-2030s due to power supply problems.
The site, described as the country's largest AI supercomputer when announced in 2025, faces a lengthy wait before coming online. Doubts had already emerged after the Guardian revealed in March that the planned location was still an operational scaffolding yard.
Power grid constraints
UK Power Networks (UKPN), the company connecting the site to the local power grid, has reportedly told Nscale, the UK-based startup building the supercomputer, that the grid will not be able to supply sufficient power until the early to mid-2030s. The power delay was first reported by Morning Intelligence, an AI industry newsletter.
Nscale said it was "committed to the project" but the failure to find a quick fix to the power supply issue underlines how much energy has become a hindrance to datacentre development. The scaffolding yard site has now been cleared by Nscale, which is also investigating whether it can generate power onsite and speed up the connection process.
National grid strain
Keir Starmer's government cited the Loughton project when announcing the UK's AI strategy in 2025, describing the site as the "largest UK sovereign AI datacentre". Datacentres are the central nervous system of AI technology such as chatbots.
Ofgem, the energy industry regulator, has warned of a logjam in applications for electricity connections. In June, it revealed there were 315 datacentres queueing to connect to the National Grid, representing 73GW of demand – compared with the peak energy demand for the entire country of 45GW. The Loughton site is seeking up to 90MW of capacity, equivalent to the energy consumption of about 315,000 homes.
UKPN said it could not comment on an individual project. Schemes with large energy demand also require work at a National Grid level to ensure energy demands can be met properly. "In general, many datacentres, whilst they will connect to our distribution network, are awaiting works on the wider national electricity transmission network before they can begin operation," said a UKPN spokesperson.
National Grid said: "We're continuing to work closely with Neso [the government-owned National Energy System Operator], distribution network operators and customers to identify opportunities to accelerate connections where possible and support economic growth."
A government spokesperson said Neso and Ofgem were working to ensure the right projects were getting power connections under a reform of the application process. "We are reversing decades of underinvestment and delivering the biggest upgrade to the grid in decades."
