A feasibility study has supported plans for a £1.1bn data centre and electricity generator, powered by onsite gas at a drilling site in East Yorkshire
The study said the project, at West Newton in Holderness, would cost about £1.1bn, excluding drilling the gas wells. The cost of the electricity generating plant was estimated at £385m and the data centre at £765m.
The research was commissioned by Reabold Resources, the majority investor in West Newton, from the consultancy firms, Kent and pmo hive.
According to the study, the estimated cost of electricity for the data centre would be £44-54/MWh for onsite generation, compared with £217.8/MWh for UK grid electricity.
It assumes that West Newton gas would be supplied to the generation plant at cost.
The study envisaged twelve 15Mwe reciprocating gas engines. Ten would operate as duty units, delivering about 130Mwe to the site, with two on standby.
The study also assumes ten 6.6 MW data halls and two network rooms, that would all be air cooled.
It said there was scope to support a data centre with about 67MW of computing capacity. The data centre’s annual consumption was estimated at 719 GWh.
A development programme suggested the first power could be generated in the second half of 2030.
Sachin Oza, co-chief executive of Reabold Resources, said in a statement today:
“Against the backdrop of the UK’s ambitions for AI sovereignty and data security, this Study demonstrates how West Newton gas could support these ambitions whilst also dealing with the significant power constraint challenges facing UK data centre developments.
“In addition, by bringing the data centre to the energy, we are able to reduce, substantially, the timeline to first compute substantially versus other greenfield development projects. We look forward to progressing through the next steps, which include establishing commercial partnerships, land arrangements, permitting, technical work and financing.”
The feasibility study, which can be viewed here, said the gas combustion plant must be “decarbonisation ready”. It said this was most likely through carbon capture, which was “ not yet scoped”. It said the CO2 could go to the as yet unsanctioned Humber CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.
Agreements and consents
No planning or environmental applications have been submitted for gas-powered electricity generation or a data centre at West Newton.
The feasibility study recommended a single Development Consent Order (DCO) as “the most straightforward and lowest risk route to consent”.
A DCO under the 2008 Planning Act is a single statutory order that can grant planning permission and legal powers for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). It replaces the need to apply for multiple separate consents, permits and licences.
The West Newton-A site currently has planning approval for four new wells, lower-volume fracturing, long-term production and site expansion.
The site has a environmental permit variation that allows for lower-volume fracking. But this is being challenged at the High Court by a local campaigner.
He is also seeking an injunction to stop the fracking operation at West Newton-A, due to be carried out before the end of the year, until the permit case has been resolved.
There is currently no agreement on the proposed data centre or power generator between Reabold Resources and the minority investor at the site, Union Jack Oil, which has a 16.665% stake.
We reported last week that the proposed lower-volume frack at West Newton-A was likely to “materially reduce” available cash at Reabold Resources. The work is expected to cost £3m. Reabold reported cash balances of £4m in June 2026.
- Recent photos taken outside West Newton-A suggested that a new fence may be being constructed within the site, along with possible maintenance work.
