“OF COURSE YOU GET CURIOUS”, shouts Will Drury, an engineer at the Verne data centre in Farringdon. We’re standing in a windowless grey room between rows of blinking servers and yellow cables, refrigerator-sized cooling units blasting air out sideways. Will struggles to raise his voice above the din of the 10 locker-sized units that house the NVIDIA AI processing chips, each server shrieking like a high-pitched steam train.
Yet the engineers here know little about what each £250,000 server is powering, beyond that many of their customers work in the pharmaceutical industry and financial services. How they use their computing power is down to them. One thing is clear, though: all across London, a gold rush is underway.
To read all of today's piece, you’ll need to be a full-fledged paying member. Let us explain why: through our investment in our growing team, we believe we can bring back high-quality, independent local journalism — but it’s a huge (and expensive) undertaking, and we need your help.
Because we know January has been a long (long) month, we’ve sweetened the deal: take out a year’s membership of The Londoner, and we’ll give you two months completely free — and you’ll be supporting a small team working tirelessly to cover the most important stories in the capital. What's more, you'll get access to our entire back catalogue of members-only journalism, receive eight extra editions per month, and be able to come along to our fantastic members' events.
Companies are racing to build giant warehouses full of the servers and chips which will provide the computing power to fuel the AI age. But as more and more data centres connect to the grid, the capital’s energy supply is straining. In 2023, data centres were responsible for 75% of all electricity usage on the Isle of Dogs. A 256MW data centre, one of the largest in the country, has recently been approved in Ealing — guzzling enough energy to power every household in Birmingham. And by 2030, the energy that London’s data centres consume is expected to quadruple.
As billions of pounds of investment pours into London’s data centre boom, some are starting to worry. Is the city’s power supply built to withstand this? Why are these centres clustering here, taking up some of the most expensive land in the UK? And how can London manage its new battle for power: between data centres and new homes?
London deserves great journalism. You can help make it happen.
You're halfway there, the rest of the story is behind this paywall. Join the Londoner for full access to local news that matters, just £8.95/month.
SubscribeAlready have an account? Sign In
