National Grid has moved towards building Britain’s biggest electricity substation on Teesside, which could supply a vast nearby datacentre, after agreeing to buy land at Dorman Point from Teesworks.
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Illustrative image · Source: Guardian Business · National Grid to site biggest substation on Teesside, near planned AI datacentre · Rights unverified · Reencoded as WebP with metadata removed. Display may be resized or cropped.
National Grid has taken a step towards building Britain’s biggest electricity substation on Teesside, which could supply power to a vast neighbouring datacentre as the UK races to expand its AI infrastructure. Last week the company agreed to purchase 29.5 hectares (73 acres) of land at Dorman Point on a site owned by Teesworks, a local private-public partnership. The deal was first reported by Sky News.
The deal followed reports last year that the UK government had picked Teesworks as the site for a new artificial intelligence datacentre, and planning applications had been submitted for a project that would span nearly 500,000 sq metres.
Matt Pearce, the head of land at National Grid, said the deal “reflects the constructive work between all those involved to enable this vital infrastructure … and will support the growth of AI and digital technologies, and enable the region’s next phase of industrial and economic development”, and said the company was committed to working closely with partners to progress the development as quickly as possible. Ben Houchen, the mayor of the Tees Valley combined authority, told Sky News that everyone who has tried to build a datacentre in this country knows the biggest problem is getting enough power to the site quickly, and said having up to 3.2GW of capacity there means the area can finally compete for those projects.
Last week, the government published a draft national policy statement on datacentres, describing them as “as fundamental to our economy as the railways and electricity networks on which we have long depended”. However, the rapid construction of datacentres in the UK has been met by strong opposition, with campaign groups protesting against planned developments in places ranging from Auchtertool, a village north of Edinburgh, to Brick Lane in east London. In October, the Guardian reported that AI companies told ministers they had 12 months to head off public opposition to datacentres in the UK or risk US-style protests that could threaten their construction.
The London-listed infrastructure services group Balfour Beatty was reported to be in line to deliver the Teesworks substation for National Grid, with the utilities firm Steel River Power (SRP) also heavily involved in the project. Balfour Beatty and SRP were approached for comment.
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