Would you build a data centre in Essex ?

[Protagoras]

https://the-guardian.livejournal.com/234890317.html?

"Planning documents show impact of Thurrock ‘hyperscale’ unit as UK attempts to ramp up AI capacity"

Now, while I'm in the camp that views AI with considerable scepticism, I really don't understand why one would want to build a data centre in Essex.

It's a part of the country that gets pretty hot in summer => greater energy requirements and cost for cooling.

While it may be able to use renewable wind energy from the seas off East Anglia and the Thames Estuary, it's not in a location (i.e. SE England) known for a surplus of electricity generation. Cheaper energy could be obtained elsewhere.

Why not build this in the north, where it's colder, energy is more plentiful, and labour is also cheaper.
Surely it can't be about the cost / latency of moving data a few hundred miles?

[TheDude]

Maybe the founders of Google are fans of the Rise Of The Footsoldier franchise?

[sadkingbilly]

https://the-guardian.livejournal.com/234890317.html?

"Planning documents show impact of Thurrock ‘hyperscale’ unit as UK attempts to ramp up AI capacity"

Now, while I'm in the camp that views AI with considerable scepticism, I really don't understand why one would want to build a data centre in Essex.

It's a part of the country that gets pretty hot in summer => greater energy requirements and cost for cooling.

While it may be able to use renewable wind energy from the seas off East Anglia and the Thames Estuary, it's not in a location (i.e. SE England) known for a surplus of electricity generation. Cheaper energy could be obtained elsewhere.

Why not build this in the north, where it's colder, energy is more plentiful, and labour is also cheaper.
Surely it can't be about the cost / latency of moving data a few hundred miles?

Shetland??

[Protagoras]

Shetland??

Shetland might be risky; mainland sub-sea cables would be vulnerable to anchoring accidents which seem to be increasingly common.

[sadkingbilly]

Shetland might be risky; mainland sub-sea cables would be vulnerable to anchoring accidents which seem to be increasingly common.

Wester Ross then.

[edison]

Google already built a large data centre in Hertfordshire, just 12 miles north of central London. It opened last week and will have all the same challenges of the proposed one in Essex.

I don't quite understand it myself, the costs of power and cooling don't seem to make a good business case for locating DCs in much of London and the South East.