UK AI Energy Council meets to accelerate grid access

The AI Energy Council (co-chaired by AI Minister Kanishka Narayan and energy ministers Lord Vallance and Michael Shanks) held its final 2025 meeting in London on 1 December to discuss accelerating grid connections and infrastructure for AI data centres and AI Growth Zones.

• Meeting held in London on 1 December 2025 co-chaired by Kanishka Narayan, Lord Vallance, and Michael Shanks; discussed accelerating grid connections, measures to reduce network pressure, and supporting data centres in AI Growth Zones with significant discounts on electricity bills where they can harness excess capacity; highlighted recent AI Growth Zones for North East England, North Wales, and South Wales, and reforms to accelerate grid access that will benefit AI Growth Zone infrastructure projects.
• Participants: regulators and representatives from the energy and tech sectors; focus areas included assessing AI energy capacity and demand, unlocking grid access, and exploring innovative/self-build power solutions; next meeting: scheduled for early 2026 to build on work understanding AI’s energy capacity and unlocking sustainable power for future AI infrastructure.