National Grid agrees to buy more than 70 acres on Teesside for a substation beside a planned AI data centre
The Dorman Point site could host Britain's biggest substation. The local mayor says up to 3.2GW could be available there, while National Grid says the substation is contracted for more than 1GW.
By Daily Oracles News Team1 min read
National Grid has agreed to buy more than 70 acres at Dorman Point on Teesside, a step towards what could become Britain's biggest electricity substation and a power supply for a large AI data centre next door.
The deal was signed last week and first reported by Sky News on Sunday. The land belongs to Teesworks, a local public-private partnership. No price or financial terms have been disclosed.
National Grid says the substation is contracted to provide more than 1GW of import and export capacity. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, told Sky News the site could have up to 3.2GW and argued that getting power to a site quickly is the biggest obstacle for data centre builders. National Grid said it wanted to move the development forward as quickly as possible, and that the development would support AI and digital technologies and the area's next phase of industrial growth.
Reports last year said the government had picked Teesworks for a new AI data centre, and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has approved detailed plans for a campus of nearly 500,000 square metres.
National Grid Electricity Transmission has applied for outline planning permission for a 400kV substation at the site. The application is with the council, which has not yet decided.
The purchase was reported days after two pieces of national policy on the same bottleneck. Last week's Budget offered data centre operators priority grid connections in return for commitments on local investment, jobs and water supplies, and the government published a draft national policy statement on data centres.
