What assessment his Department has made of the anticipated impact of the growth in artificial intelligence and sovereign compute infrastructure on national energy demand; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the UK's energy security strategy addresses the power requirements of advanced computing and AI workloads.
Embracing the opportunities that AI can provide to drive growth and productivity in the economy is a government objective. Supporting the development of AI data centres through policies such as AI Growth Zones is a key part of that. The Department is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in setting up the AI Energy Council that will have senior representatives from both the energy industry and the AI industry to look at where best to locate AI data centres and proactively manage the energy requirements of AI. Building the low carbon economy of the future will lead to significant increases in electricity demand across many sectors. These projected increases were a key part of the analysis that underpinned the department’s Clean Power Action Plan. This set out how, by unlocking new low carbon electricity generation, improving access to the electricity grid and efficient use and operation of the energy system - which can be supported by new technologies such as AI - we will achieve Clean Power by 2030 and maintain secure, resilient energy supplies.