Datacentre projects face fees for grid access to ease connection queue, Ofgem says

Energy regulator's plan would mean upfront fees or financial security via letters of credit, bonds or cash deposits

Datacentre projects in Britain will be forced to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to plug into the power grid under proposals to tackle a growing electricity connection logjam.

Ofgem, the sector watchdog, said it was taking action to discourage speculative" datacentre projects from causing unnecessary delays to the grid connection queue, which includes hospitals, schools and housing developments.