UK grid queues push data centers to build their own gas plants

On November 6, 2026, Wall Street CN reported that Britain's grid connection backlog has become so severe that data center developers are turning to self-built gas power plants in order to commission projects quickly. According to National Gas, the country's gas transmission network operator, the number of large data center projects that have approached it about gas pipeline connection options has risen from 5 a year earlier to 24. The report describes the grid connection queue as a long-standing and publicly documented problem, pointing to planning permissions, regulatory procedures, construction costs and labor shortages as multiple bottlenecks. As a result, some developers have decided to bypass the grid altogether and start up projects using their own gas power. Bedfordshire's Quest Park data center campus is cited as a typical case of this approach.

The report adds that if the trend continues, Britain's gas-fired generation could rise by 40 TWh before 2035, putting pressure on carbon reduction targets. In response, the UK government proposed a week before the report was published to allow strategically important data centers to use gas power temporarily, provided they commit to connecting to the grid at a later date. A separate new 'covenant' mechanism for data centers was introduced alongside this, under which emissions will be accounted for at the national level by the government instead of requiring each individual facility to meet its own separate targets.

Steve Jack, head of energy and infrastructure capital markets for Europe at property consultancy JLL, said the top request he hears from clients is 'help me solve the grid problem, help me find power.' At this stage, grid connection delays are still ongoing, and developers are pursuing two parallel routes to get projects operating: self-built gas power and the government's new covenant mechanism.