Reconciling the data centre trilemma: turning constraint into catalyst
The UK’s digital infrastructure is rapidly becoming integral to its economic and industrial future. In the last couple of weeks, over £10 billion in new projects have been announced to meet surging computing demands – and this is just in London. Data centres now account for over half of new electricity applications, with 19 gigawatts planned over five years.
Today however, connection waits can stretch to 10+ years, prompting three-quarters of developers to explore sites abroad. Slow planning systems and fragmented regulatory regimes threaten to delay investment. Without fast, coordinated government action, planned investment will flow to overseas markets with clearer delivery pathways.
The UK therefore faces a defining question: how can we deliver the clean, reliable, and scalable power that this growth requires?
To describe this challenge, let me introduce the data centre trilemma, a framework adapted from the energy trilemma, which measures the balance between energy security, affordability, and sustainability.
For data centres, the three pillars are:
1. Power Availability and Grid Access
Data centres are inherently energy-intensive and constrained by access to high-capacity connections. Yet grid congestion, connection queues delays, and fragmented planning processes are delaying billions in potential investment.
2. Clean Power and Sustainability Targets
The government has set ambitious clean power targets that the data centre ecosystem must contend with – and find innovative ways to align with. This includes renewable PPAs, onsite generation, flexibility, and heat reuse. The challenge is to decarbonise while maintaining competitiveness, ensuring that sustainability does not become a barrier to deployment.
3. Sector Growth and National Ambition
The UK’s economic and industrial strategy depends on expanding compute capacity to support AI, cloud services, and advanced manufacturing. Limiting data centre growth risks constraining innovation, productivity, and inward investment. Yet growth must be sustainable, powered by clean, reliable energy that strengthens, rather than burdens, the wider system.
Balancing these three priorities lies at the heart of the data centre trilemma. Too rapid an expansion would strain the grid and increase emissions if clean power isn’t available. Overly rigid sustainability requirements can limit siting flexibility and delay build-out. And weak planning coordination risks stalling both energy and digital progress.
The task, therefore, is not to choose between these goals but to reconcile them. This will demand collaboration across industries that are not natural bedfellows: energy and digital infrastructure, investors and regulators, innovators and policymakers. No single actor can balance growth, sustainability, and power availability alone. It requires a shared framework, trusted leadership, and a forum capable of aligning incentives.
This is where the REA comes in.
As the UK’s largest cross-sector clean energy trade association, the REA connects generators, storage and flexibility providers, and now, digital infrastructure developers. Our new Data Centre Coalition brings these industries together to tackle the structural challenges behind the trilemma, from grid reform and private-wire models to emissions frameworks and public engagement.
The REA’s strength lies in both its reach and credibility. We operate across every renewable technology, hold established channels into key government bodies, and have a proven record of building coalitions that shape national policy. Our subsidiary, REAL, underpins this work with deep expertise in green certification and assurance.
Through this coalition, the REA is positioning the data centre sector as an integral part of the UK’s clean energy transition, not a competitor for capacity but an instrument for innovation, flexibility, and investment. By uniting energy and digital stakeholders, we can turn the data centre trilemma from a constraint into a catalyst for growth, ensuring the UK’s digital future is powered cleanly, reliably, and at scale.
As data centre development becomes a larger part of the national conversation, often accompanied by negative headlines, the Coalition will also work to highlight the benefits these facilities can bring to local communities, from infrastructure investment and skills to heat reuse and energy innovation.
Join Us
Membership in the Coalition provides early access to insights that directly impact project delivery, including emerging grid capacity, private-wire opportunities, and regulatory developments. Members can influence policy and planning decisions, shape frameworks for renewable PPAs and energy flexibility, and gain visibility in government and investor forums. Participation also opens doors to cross-sector partnerships with energy generators, storage providers, technology innovators, and enabling sectors across finance, legal, and insurers.
The Coalition will officially launch on 26 November 2025 (14:00–16:30) at Burges Salmon LLP, London.
To register, follow this link or contact me here.
Rollo Maschietto
Lead – Energy Demand