While at work yesterday a resident said the plans for building new housing estates could be off because the electricity grid is running out of power and can’t build the necessary capacity for 10 years or more!
Googling around the topic and it appears to be a very real problem in West London, see stories below.
Logic says if we need power for all this computer storage, as we all use more and more data on our multiple phones, laptops and iPads there has to be limits. We assume we can just keep adding to the network and someone else will worry about the supply end.
Looking out the window at the 4 charging points at Tesco a couple of years ago and there was always 3 bays free. Today they are all full most of the time and next up there will be a queue!
The population has been doing as they are told and buying electric cars but this added pressure is providing a new dynamic for the electric companies to think about.
It would seem we are running out and the project managers responsible for the supply end are now putting their hands in the air saying, we can’t go on like this!
I have asked officers what that means for all the new housing estates planned for RBWM and contacted Wates specifically about AL21 to find out what the situation is in West Windsor.
The Conservative administration are banking on getting the golf course development underway as the financial implications of not being able to service the £200m+ debt are starting to weigh heavily on their shoulders. This is a curve ball that wasn’t in the psyche when the vision of Maidenhead as a concrete jungle was envisaged by those obsessed by property development.
As I find out more from officers and developers, I’ll let you know what they have to say. Stories in the press below…
Grid has ‘no power for new homes in west London until 2035’
Developers may be prevented from starting projects in west London until 2035 because the electricity grid has run out of capacity to power new homes.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) told developers this week that it may take more than a decade for grid capacity to be increased to sustain new developments in Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow.
The electricity demands of data centers are making it harder to build new homes in London
The power demands of data centers can be staggering, with larger facilities using as much electricity as tens of thousands of homes. Now, in parts of London, those energy requirements are reportedly stopping developers from building new houses because there’s simply not enough electricity to go around.
One west London council is “deeply concerned” that a lack of capacity in the electric grid could affect development pipelines “in the middle of an affordable housing crisis” across the borough.
Report: Home building to halt in West London, due to data center power demands
The Greater London Authority has told developers that new housing projects in West London could be banned till 2035, because data centers have taken all the electricity capacity.
Thank you.
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
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