Policy record, national

UK Data Centre Covenant: five tests for strategic data centres and faster grid access

In short: the Covenant is a UK government policy paper, not a law. All data centres are encouraged to meet five tests on energy costs, local benefits, environmental standards, jobs and security, and strategic data centres must meet them to get help with grid connections and planning from a new Ministerial Control Centre. The definition of a strategic data centre is still to come. Details and sources follow.

AdoptedUnited KingdomStrategy

Policy paper published by HM Treasury on 28 October 2026. It sets five tests that all data centres are encouraged to meet and that strategic data centres must meet to qualify for extra government action: pay their fair share of energy system costs and support grid flexibility; agree a Local Benefit Plan with substantial local investment linked to the development's size; meet high environmental standards, with new facilities designed for a PUE of 1.3 or better, closed loop water systems to limit public water use, heat reuse where a viable local user exists and annual reporting of energy and water use; create local jobs and apprenticeships and support UK suppliers and British AI hardware; and work with the National Cyber Security Centre on resilience. In return a Ministerial Control Centre chaired by the Minister for AI will consider support for strategic sites, including reserving and reallocating grid connections under Planning and Infrastructure Act powers, transferring pre-2030 data centre connection contracts and, for exceptionally strategic projects, a tightly controlled framework for temporary on-site generation. The government estimates the UK needs 6 GW of AI data centre capacity by 2030. The definition of a strategic data centre and further criteria are to follow.