Data centres are arriving faster than the grid can keep up. Across Britain, hundreds of gigawatts of demand are waiting to connect, and many developers are told the wait could last years.
But is the grid really full? Or are we just managing it the wrong way?
Ahead of Technology Optimists London on 18 November, we asked one of our speakers James Johnston from Piclo how technology and flexibility can unlock capacity in the infrastructure we already have, and what it will take to connect data centres in months rather than years.
1. Connecting new capacity without waiting years for upgrades
The grid is built for its worst few hours of the year, so most of the time it has spare capacity. Technology lets a data centre connect now on a flexible basis, agreeing to reduce its draw during the few hours the local network is stretched. A US study from Duke found room for 76 GW of new load if it accepted curtailment just 0.25% of the time. In practice that means connecting in months rather than waiting the best part of a decade.
2. Are we making the most of existing infrastructure?
No. We plan and connect as if every customer needs full power every hour of the year, and very few do. In Britain, 125 GW of demand is queuing to connect against a peak of about 45 GW. Some of that queue will never be built, but much of it could connect today on existing wires if we priced and managed capacity hour by hour instead of reserving it for the worst case.
3. The role of flexibility
Flexibility is what makes a non-firm connection usable. A data centre can flex its own load, run on-site batteries, or buy flexibility from others nearby: batteries, heat pumps, industrial sites. That lets it run as if it had a firm connection while the grid upgrade catches up. Put simply, flexibility turns a non-firm connection into one that's as good as firm.
4. The biggest barrier
It isn't the technology. It's that our connection rules and contracts still assume firm or nothing. Data centre operators and their lenders need certainty, and today a non-firm connection looks like a risk they can't price. We need standard contracts, transparent data on how often curtailment actually happens, and markets that let people trade capacity. With those in place, investors can back non-firm connections the way they back firm ones.
5. How grid operators and technology companies can work together
Grid operators should publish where and when capacity is available, and offer non-firm connections as a standard option rather than a special favour. Technology companies should bring proven flexibility, real data and a willingness to be curtailed. Then the two meet in an open market where the price shows the cheapest way to add capacity: build, flex or both. That's faster than either side planning alone.
6. Why I'm taking part in Technology Optimists
Because this is solvable. AI growth is being held back by a grid problem, and the grid problem is mostly a rules and markets problem we know how to fix. I'm looking forward to talking about how we unlock capacity in the grid we already have, and what it would take to get Britain connecting data centres in months, not years.
The grid challenge won’t be solved by technology alone. It takes grid operators, regulators, technology providers and investors in the same room, talking openly about what is stopping us.
That is exactly what Technology Optimists London is built for. Join us at Kings Place on 18 November 2026 to hear from leaders at AECOM, Ofgem, NESO, Centrii and more, and be part of the conversation on how to build a more resilient power system.