More data centres approved for west London

Another data centre in west London has been approved by a council, despite concerns surrounding its demand on water and energy supplies.

Hounslow Council's Planning Committee voted in favour of the plans at a 12.2-acre brownfield site in the Haslemere Heathrow Estate earlier this month.

During the meeting, concerns were raised about the facility's electrical demand of an 80MVA (Megavolt-Amperes) high-capacity power connection, which is equivalent to the needs of tens of thousands of homes.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) recently said there was approximately 10 times the electricity capacity used by existing data centres in London already requested in the grid connection queue.

Data centres house IT infrastructure such as servers and "underpin almost all economic activity and innovation", according to the government.

As of November last year, there were 99 operational data centre sites in London and 26 in the planning pipeline, the GLA said in a recent report.

This equates to approximately 80% of the UK's data centre capacity being located in the capital.

Last year, Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, said that data centres were a major driver of demand on the UK's electricity grid.

Hounslow's planning committee heard that the Haslemere Heathrow Estate scheme would import energy from the National Energy System Operator via the Laleham Grid Supply Point.

This is routed outside of Hounslow's boundaries.

Planning officers also confirmed that the centre would not use electrical capacity earmarked for other developments, such as housing in the borough.

However, there was no information on how it would affect local water supplies.

In May, Affinity Water, which supplies parts of the borough of Hounslow, told MPs that some data centres were requesting up to 3 million litres of water a day, equivalent to the peak water demand of 3,500 homes.

The Greater London Authority's (GLA) initial Stage 1 report had previously warned that the scheme did not fully comply with the London Plan, and cited concerns over transport, and high water and energy intensity.

Under the approved terms, the developer must submit a strategy to minimise operational water consumption.

The decision follows the approval of another data centre in west London last month.

Ealing Council approved a 52,000 square metre data centre on the site of the former Honey Monster Food Factory on Bridge Road in Southall.

It is close to the site where four other data centre units were approved for the Southall Industrial Estate on Trident Way in November last year.

A spokesperson for Ealing Council said that electricity capacity was a "recognised issue across west London" and the Bridge Road data centre was required to source its electricity outside of the existing grid capacity.

Approval of both the Ealing and Hounslow sites is subject to a Stage 2 referral to the mayor of London.

Additional reporting by Philip James Lynch, Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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