{
  "slug": "gb-demand-connection-queue-2026",
  "title": "One Queue, Two Bases: Reading Britain's Data Centre Connection Numbers",
  "url": "https://solaranalytica.com/gb-demand-connection-queue-2026",
  "summary": "Ofgem states Britain's demand connection queue rose from 41 GW to 125 GW, with around 73 GW of the total being data centres. Its press release attributes at least 80 GW to the rise. One quantity, two published shares, two different bases, and a queue that is not a demand forecast.",
  "license": "Free to use with attribution to Solar Analytica (solaranalytica.com). Underlying figures are named to their public sources below.",
  "csv": "https://solaranalytica.com/reports/gb-demand-connection-queue-2026/data.csv",
  "datePublished": "2026-08-23",
  "lastReviewed": "2026-08-23",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Ofgem, Curate: Demand Connections Reform, consultation document, 29 July 2026",
      "url": "https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-07/Proposed-data-centre-connection-reforms-curate-consultation-document.pdf"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ofgem, Proposed data centre connection reforms (consultation landing page, open to 16 September 2026)",
      "url": "https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consultation/proposed-data-centre-connection-reforms"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ofgem, Ofgem acts to free up grid capacity by tackling speculative data centre projects, press release, 29 July 2026",
      "url": "https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/ofgem-acts-free-grid-capacity-tackling-speculative-data-centre-projects"
    },
    {
      "title": "Slaughter and May, Pay to Stay: Ofgem's plan to cull the data centre connection queue",
      "url": "https://www.slaughterandmay.com/insights/new-insights/pay-to-stay-ofgem-s-plan-to-cull-the-data-centre-connection-queue/"
    },
    {
      "title": "Addleshaw Goddard, Ofgem's Curate Consultation: what it means for grid connected data centre projects in Great Britain, 12 August 2026",
      "url": "https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/insights/insights-briefings/2026/infrastructure-projects-energy/ofgems-curate-consultation-grid-connected-data-centre-projects-great-britain/"
    }
  ],
  "figures": [
    {
      "id": "gb-demand-queue-scale",
      "title": "Great Britain's demand connection queue against measured peak",
      "unit": "GW",
      "provenance": {
        "dataSource": "Ofgem, Curate: Demand Connections Reform, 29 July 2026, executive summary and paragraphs 2.7 and 2.8",
        "dataType": "Published regulatory analysis",
        "scope": "Great Britain transmission and distribution demand queue",
        "statistic": "Contracted offers, and measured system peak",
        "interval": "November 2024 and June 2025; peak demand 2025"
      },
      "caption": "Contracted offers in the demand queue at two readings, the data centre component of the total, and the measured 2025 system peak Ofgem states for scale.",
      "series": [
        {
          "label": "Queue, Jun 2025",
          "value": 125
        },
        {
          "label": "Data centres in queue",
          "value": 73
        },
        {
          "label": "GB peak demand, 2025",
          "value": 45
        },
        {
          "label": "Queue, Nov 2024",
          "value": 41
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gb-data-centre-size-bands",
      "title": "Data centre queue by size band: share of projects against share of capacity",
      "unit": "per cent",
      "valueLabel": "Share of projects",
      "valueBLabel": "Share of capacity",
      "provenance": {
        "dataSource": "Ofgem, Curate: Demand Connections Reform, Table 1",
        "dataType": "Published regulatory analysis; project shares computed from Ofgem's counts",
        "scope": "Around 315 data centre projects totalling around 73 GW",
        "statistic": "Share of count and share of contracted capacity",
        "interval": "As published 29 July 2026"
      },
      "caption": "Each size band's share of the 315 queued data centre projects against its share of the 73 GW of contracted capacity.",
      "series": [
        {
          "label": "Small (0 to 10 MW)",
          "value": 3.5,
          "valueB": 0.1
        },
        {
          "label": "Medium (10 to 50)",
          "value": 14.9,
          "valueB": 1.9
        },
        {
          "label": "Large (50 to 100)",
          "value": 16.2,
          "valueB": 4.8
        },
        {
          "label": "Extra-large (100 to 500)",
          "value": 52.7,
          "valueB": 50.2
        },
        {
          "label": "Hyper (500 and above)",
          "value": 12.7,
          "valueB": 43
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}