Seems like the pertinent information is slowly coming out on this stuff.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/23/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-uk-electricity-use-ofgem-peak-demand

I don't really understand how something that more than doubles the country's power requirements isn't a really big news story. Add that to the list I guess.

New datacentres risk doubling Great Britain’s electricity use, regulator says

Ofgem says about 140 proposed projects, driven by AI use, could require more power than current peak demand

The Guardian
@paulgc Though I didn't read the ofgem report, a few things to notice: it doesn't say "more than double" but "double". And where did that idea come from? I guess from the idea that the requested capacity is more than the current peak usage. But capacity is not usage. Data centres will certainly shift a big chunk of their load to offpeak, because the cost incentive is there. So it'll increase peak, but not double it. Hopefully an actual expert will give us a proper estimate...
@danstowell This does make me feel a little better about the whole thing. thanks!