NEWS UPDATE SOLAR PROGRESS


UK solar installations hit highest monthly level in more than a decade


No need for National Grid expansion, argues Jackson


The boss of Britain’s biggest electricity supplier has urged the National Grid to slash its scheduled £100bn budget for upgrading its network. Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, argues that “we should be urgently reassessing” this “nuts” expansion programme. Official government demand


forecasts maintain that such grid expansion will be needed because of the rise in demand that comes from greater adoption of electrified transport and heating. According to the current government estimates, power demand will be 50% higher than now by 2035, and 100% higher by 2050.


This is despite a long history of official over-estimation. Overall consumption levels are already some 17% below peaks recorded 20 years ago. Back in 2005, government statisticians had reckoned that consumption by now would be 30% more than it currently is. Jackson maintains that these


official forecasts are making fundamentally flawed assumptions about the total amount of power that will be needed at peak times such as the mornings and evenings. Data from Octopus reveals that, although a typical household with an electric car may have seen their power consumption rise by as much as 60%, their peak-time consumption has only increased by 4%. By comparison, the official forecasts are presuming there will be a staggering 70% increase in peak-time demand, Jackson told the Daily Telegraph. The spread of smart meters is enabling electricity suppliers to smooth out these peaks, by providing price incentives that are time- sensitive. These reward those that switch to use electricity boosts at low demand times. Jackson’s contempt for his


competitors is not restricted to the National Grid and government planners. Interviewed on the “Everything Electric” podcast, Greg Jackson said: “Oil and gas are like an abusive partner. After another disaster they say ‘it’s going to be different this time’. It never is f***ng different.”


06


More than 27,000 solar installations were completed across the UK in March, the highest monthly figure since 2012, according to new government data. The figures from DESNZ show


total UK solar installations passed two million for the first time. The total includes rooftop panels and large- scale solar farms, but around two- thirds of the installations recorded


were rooftop systems fitted to homes. Solar capacity grew by 11.7% over the past year, adding 2.3 GW of electricity generation capacity to the UK energy system.


The data was published as the


government continues efforts to expand solar generation through a wider clean energy programme. Recent measures include approval for the Springwell Solar Farm project,


which is set to become the UK’s largest power-producing solar farm. The government has also confirmed that solar panels are expected to become standard on new homes built in England. Separate figures from the National Energy System Operator showed solar generation on Britain’s electricity network exceeded 15 GW for the first time this month. Pictured is the installation of a 6.6MW solar array – claimed to be the UK’s largest single-roof system – which is due to begin later this month at the Barton-upon-Humber manufacturing plant of kitchen and bedroom retailer Wren, as part of its sustainability plans.


The multi-million pound investment


will see over 13,000 solar panels installed on the roof of Wren’s 1.3 million sq. ft Parrott Street factory, which is big enough to hold around 15 football pitches. When complete in winter this year, the solar panels are expected to provide over 35% of the factory’s energy demand. It could power the equivalent of over 2,000 homes or nearly 17 million electric vehicle miles.


One in five UK forms shift AI work


abroad amid energy pressures One in five UK companies have moved artificial intelligence workloads overseas due to high energy costs, according to new research that highlights growing strain on the country’s digital infrastructure. The study, commissioned by CUDO Compute in partnership with Censuswide, surveyed more than 700 senior AI decision- makers across the UK, the United States and Europe. While 46% of UK organisations


say geopolitical instability is pushing them to keep AI workloads within home markets (compared to 36% overall), 43% say ‘cost and performance still outweigh sovereignty’ when it comes to deployment decisions. A third (33%) of UK organisations say energy costs are limiting their ability to scale AI operations. The pressure is even more


pronounced among AI-first businesses, where nearly a third


(32%) say they would consider moving workloads overseas due to power costs, compared to 18% of enterprise organisations. Those building and running the most compute-intensive workloads are also the most likely to look beyond the UK when economics tighten. When looking at which markets businesses are turning to, the US ranks as the most attractive location for new AI cluster capacity, with


three quarters (72%) viewing it positively, followed by India (62%). Eastern Europe also scores highly with 58% viewing it as a positive location for AI deployment – above Western Europe (45%) and the Nordics (44%). China also ranks highly at 55%, above Latin America (40%), the Middle East (39%), Africa (38%) and APAC (29%). But the wider macro


environment cannot be ignored, as a third (32%) of UK organisations are ‘actively considering’ relocating workloads due to geopolitical pressures, and almost half (45%) say data sovereignty, regulatory compliance or national security concerns are shaping their AI deployment strategy, compared to 33% across Europe. The research, which was


commissioned to mark the launch of CUDO Compute’s ‘Land. Power. Compute’ report, shows that AI infrastructure is now constrained not just by algorithms or GPU access but by land availability, power economics and grid reality – where power increasingly dictates costs.


EIBI | MAY 2026


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