Fire That Shut Heathrow Puts Spotlight on Grid Constraints

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Local business leader says data centre growth should force rethink

Left: The fire at the Hayes sub-station. Right: West London Business CEO Andrew Dakers

March 25, 2025

The chief executive of an organisation that lobbies for businesses in west London has claimed that the vulnerabilities exposed by the recent fire at the Hayes sub-station were not a surprise.

West London Business CEO Andrew Dakers says that he and others in the business community have been pointing out for some time that there are serious capacity issues in the electricity grid in west London and that the energy companies are failing to meet with the extra demand from data centres in the area.

Heathrow was brought to a standstill by the fire at the North Hyde Transformer on 20 March but the whole airport uses less electricity per day than a single data centre. There are estimated to be up to ten data centres operating along the A4/M4 and the A40/M40 corridors in west London and more are planned. Tritax Big Box Reit plans to build the UK's largest data centre on a 74-acre site between Heathrow Airport and Slough, adjacent to the A4. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2027, delivering up to 147 MW of power which would be more than three times that used by Heathrow.

Mr Dakers praised the response from Heathrow and engineers from National Grid and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) engineers in having the grid and the systems up and running with in 24 hours but adds that he has little confidence in the plans to ensure greater resilience in the future.

He says, “There are now three investigations underway: London Fire Brigade (LFB); an internal review by Heathrow Airport; and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has instructed the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to conduct an investigation, working with the Regulator Ofgem, to report in six weeks.

“But that something broke was not a huge surprise to those of us on the front line of trying to power up West London’s economy.

“West London Business - with over 250+ member companies including Heathrow - has been shining a spotlight on energy network capacity constraints in the west of the capital since 2021.

“It is well understood that three of our boroughs Ealing, Hillingdon – home to Heathrow - and Hounslow are at their grid capacity limits. This has been driven by the accelerated growth of data centres in the area during and post pandemic. It is now one of the largest data centre clusters on the planet. Forecasts by Arup show we need to triple the supply into West London over the next decade or so.”

In response to concerns about electricity grid capacity in west London, both National Grid and Scottish and SSEN have implemented several measures:. In March 2024, the two organisations, in partnership with the Electricity System Operator and the Greater London Authority (GLA), introduced a technical solution to unlock electricity network capacity in parts of west London. This initiative enables "ramped connections," allowing developments to receive increased electricity supply over time, thereby accelerating connection timescales for housing and infrastructure projects.

SSEN has published Strategic Development Plans (SDPs) for areas including Ealing, outlining future network enhancements to support growth and decarbonisation efforts.

Recognising the need for timely infrastructure upgrades, Ofgem approved a £4 billion investment for electricity network companies, including National Grid and SSE, to pre-order cables and grid equipment.

Mr Dakers is urging that projects to upgrade the transmission network into West London and the low power grid are now accelerated but his group’s scrutiny of the latest plans from the National Grid has not given it confidence that the strategy is sound or moving fast enough. He says that it will take ten years to deliver upgrades to the west London grid and describes this as ‘completely unacceptable’. He is urging ministerial oversight for the upgrades and a ‘War Room’ to keep track of what is needed. Failure to do this, he claims would mean slower growth, less housing and more unemployment for the next decade and beyond.

He concludes, “Last Friday was a reminder of why West London claims title of 'the world's most connected place'. But if West London and our capital stops delivering there are national and global implications.”

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