National Grid Starts Work On New Substation In Buckinghamshire To Power Data Centres
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.
These three bullet points act as sub-headings.
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New substation site at Uxbridge Moor in Buckinghamshire will power new data centres –delivering economic growth and enabling UK digitalization
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Site to feature two SF6-free gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substations to minimise environmental footprint
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Work comes as National Grid is planning £35 billion investment in its transmission network between 2026 to 2031
This is the first paragraph.
National Grid is starting work on its new Uxbridge Moor substation in Buckinghamshire which will connect over a dozen new data centres to its network.
This Google Map shows the current Iver substation.
The road on the left is Western section of the M25, which gives an idea of the size of the substation.
These two paragraphs give more details of the new Uxbridge Moor substation.
The requests from data centres to connect at Uxbridge Moor will require around 1.8GW of new capacity, equivalent to adding a mid-sized city to the grid on the outskirts of London. When built, it will be the largest new substation on National Grid’s network by gigawatt capacity.
The new substation site borders National Grid’s existing Iver 400kV substation in Buckinghamshire, which has reached capacity and cannot be expanded to meet the demand from data centres and other customers for connections in the area.
Nothing about the new substation appears small!
The cost of the Uxbridge Moor substation does not appear to have been disclosed by National Grid, but they do say this about their projected total spend in the next few years.
National Grid is planning £35 billion of investment between 2026 to 2031 to connect both large sources of demand such as data centres and gigafactories, and new sources of electricity generation such as wind and solar.
But then it’s not their fault, that the UK is a superb place for renewable energy and we generally speak English.
Elon Musk’s Starlink Lined Up To Solve Train Wi-Fi Rage
The title of this post, is the same as that, as this article on the Telegraph.
This is the sub-heading.
Using the billionaire’s network of satellites could help rail passengers make reliable phone calls
These two paragraphs give more details.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are being looked at as a potential solution to solving the issue of patchy Wi-Fi on Britain’s trains.
Train operators in England and Wales are examining whether the satellite-based internet provider could be used to boost connectivity after a six-month trial of the technology began in Scotland last month.
I don’t see any obvious technical reason, why not the technology wouldn’t work.
This Wikipedia entry describes the 2024 Talerddig Train Collision, when two trains collided on the Cambrian Line.
Better communications might have helped in avoiding or sorting out the incident.
I Have An HP LaserJet P1102w Going Free
The printer is offered with a new unopened print cartridge.
Note.
- It is about seven years old.
- It gave me no problems on Windows 7.
- I couldn’t get the printer to work with my new computer, which uses the dreaded Windows 10.
- As I suspect the computer will update itself unilaterally to Windows 11.
- I need an occasional A4 copying facility.
It was cheaper to buy a new HP DeskJet printer at £46.99 from Currys, than pay an expert to sort the problem.
I live in London N1.
Use the Contact Form, if you’d like it.
I Keep Getting Offers Like This
This is an offer, I received from Nationwide.
Make things happen in 2025. You could borrow £7,500 – £25,000 over 1 to 5 years with a rate of 5.9% APR Representative.
Note.
- I have banked with them for probably twenty-five years.
- I got this after, I had successfully logged in.
- I don’t really need the money.
I have also received unsolicited offers from other well-known banks.
In Is Internet Security Sometimes Over Secure?, I described how eBay seemed to have stopped me from using my credit cards on-line.
Marks & Spencer cleared that bother up for me and the offers started after they did.
But at least, since the trouble with eBay, I’ve not lost anything to scammers, although eBay might have.
Is it just a coincidence, that the offers started after Marks & Spencer cleared up my credit rating or does it always happen, when your credit rating improves?
It could also be that the banks have masses of money to lend and no-one is borrowing anything.
Forty Years On
Tuesday was almost exactly forty years to the day since we sold Artemis.
Remarkably, as my son observed, we’re all still here. Perhaps, a bit battered maybe!
Could A Highview Power CRYOBattery Provide Backup Power For A Large Data Centre?
I asked Google AI how much power does a data centre need and got this answer.
The power requirements for an average data center vary greatly depending on its size and purpose, ranging from 1-5 MW for small facilities to 20-100 MW or more for large hyperscale centers. Small data centers, typically with 500-2,000 servers, might need 1-5 MW of power, while large or hyperscale data centers, housing tens of thousands of servers, can consume 20-100 MW or even more.
As Highview Power are currently building four 200 MW/2.5 GWh CRYOBatteries for the UK, I am fairly sure the answer is in the affirmative.
My Broadband Lacks Muscle
I get all my broadband, TV, mobile phone from EE.
Usually, it works fine and I can watch football and Formula One, when I want to.
Occasionally, I get picture break-up, when I watch something popular.
Even more occasionally, the picture and sound is lost and a No Signal message appears on the screen.
And then, a couple of weeks ago, I was unable to watch the FA Cup Semi Final on BBC1. I just got the dreaded No Signal message.
Yesterday, was the Tuesday after Bank Holiday Monday.
- I was watching BBC Breakfast, when the signal disappeared about 09:00.
- Despite two calls to EE and a visit to their shop, by 18:00, the signal had not returned.
- I was reduced to watching the news on either my television in the bedroom or my computer.
- And then at 18:30, the signal returned miraculously and I was able to watch the television normally.
It has performed immaculately since.
So What Happened?
I had no problem on Monday, but Marks and Spencer did as this article on the BBC, which is entitled M&S Customers In Limbo As Cyber Attack Chaos Continues, explains.
Did this this cyberattack mean that everybody had spent the Easter weekend checking their systems?
Whether they did or not, when the City started up again after the Easter Holiday, they needed so much capacity, my television signal over broadband was switched off.
Only when City workers adjorned to the bars and restaurants at 18:30 and switched off their systems, did I get my television signal back.
Next Monday, is Another Bank Holiday
I don’t know what will happen! Do Openreach?
The Arrogance of Samsung And/Or Google
I have been shut out of my messages on the phone by the arrogance of Samsung and/or Google.
They want me to change to a new piece of software and all I get when I try to get my messages is an oriental figure.
I have just restarted the phone and it appears to have gone as dead as a dodo.
They may think they are making progress, but my Nokia 6310i of twenty years ago, was much more useable and reliable.
At least it works as a phone and runs the apps I need.
I am seriously, thinking of giving up a mobile phone.
After all, they all die or get stolen within six months.
I Am Not Watching Crystal Palace And Aston Villa
I must be the only person in the UK, who can’t watch the FA Cup semi-final. on his main television.
- I can watch it on my computer using iPlayer.
- I can watch it on the TV in my bedroom on Freeview.
- I can watch it on the TV in my bathroom on Freeview.
As I want to use my computer, I am listening to the Radio 5 commentary on BBC Sounds.
My main television is driven by a BT/EE system, that works on broadband and all it shows is this screen.
This is an enlarged view of the bottom-left section of the screen.
Can I please have a signal?
The signal is supposed to come through my broadband, but because everybody is watching the football, there’s nothing left for me.
But how come I can watch the football using iPlayer on my computer.
As an experienced programmer, it looks like a bug to me. Or it could be a broken cable.
This third picture shows the Freeview picture in my bedroom.
Nothing wrong with that!
But now at 82:30, I’ve got my signal back and I’m able to watch and listen to the match. But not in high-definition. Although, that is now back at 87:16.
I seem to have a demonic touch with hardware and if it fails with anyone, it will fail with me.
AI Forecast To Fuel Doubling In Data Centre Electricity Demand By 2030
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
International Energy Agency predicts that artificial intelligence could help reduce total greenhouse gas emissions
These are the first two paragraphs.
Data centres will use more than twice as much electricity by 2030 than they do today as artificial intelligence drives demand, the International Energy Agency predicts.
The agency forecast that all data centres globally will use about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity each year by 2030, roughly three times as much as the UK’s total annual demand of 317 terawatt-hours in 2023.
I am very much an optimist, that here in the UK, we will be able to satisfy demand for the generation and distribution of electricity.
- Our seas can accommodate enough wind turbines to provide the baseload of electricity we will need.
- Roofs and fields will be covered in solar panels.
- SSE seem to be getting their act together with pumped storage hydro in Scotland.
- I am confident, that new energy storage technologies like Highview Power with the packing of companies like Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto and others will come good, in providing power, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
- Hopefully, Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C will be online and soon to be joined by the first of the new small modular nuclear reactors.
- Hopefully, Mersey Tidal Power will be operating.
- There will be innovative ideas like heata from Centrica’s research. The economical water heater even made BBC’s One Show last week.
The only problem will be the Nimbies.
The Anonymous Widower 