Microgeneration in the UK - Power to the people

Power hungry data centres

The artificial intelligence revolution will be powered by new and increasingly complex data centres which are used to house computer processing systems, telecoms and data storage. Whereas traditional search engines rely on keyword matching and ranking algorithms, AI interrogates language to understand the context of a query and in turn learn from interactions, the processing of which therefore demands a significant amount of energy both to power the machinery and for cooling as servers generate a lot of heat. 

Crypto mining 

Various studies have looked at the energy consumption used in mining cryptocurrencies and although no single measure has been adopted, it has been suggested that at its height in early 2022 crypto mining was using as much electricity and generating a carbon footprint equivalent to that of some small countries. Following the libertarian view that cryptocurrencies offer a decentralised alternative to banking then perhaps its mining should follow the same principles and be powered off-grid. 

Power and cooling 

One of the considerations for siting data centres is the availability of a suitable energy supply. Power for both running the servers and for cooling is the largest recurring cost of a data centre. Electricity grid connections or local renewable energy generation such as photovoltaics or wind turbines may be only part of the solution and as we have seen through recent government announcements, the appetite for small modular nuclear reactors is growing although the concept has yet to be proven commercially. 

Cooling is also an issue as excess heat or humidity needs to be controlled with a variety of solutions such as air conditioning, air flow for heat venting and liquid cooling such as water cooled racks or even servers completely immersed in liquid coolant. Data centres can be equipped with heat pumps to enable a fully liquid-cooled infrastructure that captures heat which can be re-distributing through a local heat network to surrounding properties thereby monetising the waste heat. 

UK power demand

It may come as a surprise that electricity demand in the UK is actually falling. Even with the adoption of electric vehicles, the move away from domestic gas boilers to electric heat pumps and the massive increase in the use of electrical or rechargeable devices, demand is still reducing. From a peak in 2005, the decline is probably due to changes in industrial use and the widespread adoption of low energy appliances, lighting in particular, however at the same time, energy generation in the UK has dramatically changed not least with the end of coal generation and the decommissioning of some nuclear plants. As we often hear the UK transmission grid is much in need of updating so perhaps microgeneration is the solution to ensure that power is available where needed most. 

Furtureproofing

The growing use of AI undoubtedly creates new opportunities for the real estate industry. With quantum computing perhaps just around the corner and with the ability to further drive the AI revolution we shouldn’t view the changes as the modern day Spinning Jenny or Caxton’s printing press but instead the real estate world should embrace the changes as the virtual world will still be powered by physical hardware that needs to be housed, powered and cooled by innovative property solutions. 

Call to action

Please contact Paul Stones if microgeneration is an option for you as a landowner, developer or energy company as we can assist with the legal complexities in the value chain from investigations into a target site through to planning, construction and contracting with end-users.

Authored by Paul Stones.