Brookfield, 영국 발전소에 270억 달러 규모 AI 데이터센터 계획 발표… Drax 주가 8.8% 상승

Brookfield is planning a data center with more than 1 gigawatt of capacity at a power station in North Yorkshire, England, with potential investment exceeding £20 billion ($26.8 billion). Drax Group, which operates the site, saw its shares climb 8.8% on Tuesday morning after signing an agreement with Brookfield and its neocloud platform, Radiant.

The project targets up to 100 MW of capacity operational by the first quarter of 2028, with an additional 500 MW coming online between 2028 and 2031. Brookfield estimates that total investment, including semiconductors, could exceed £20 billion ($26.8 billion), with an initial £2.5 billion for the first phase. The site could eventually hold more than 1 GW, though no date has been specified.

Drax said on Tuesday that it had signed the deal to co-develop the AI data center on the Drax Power Station estate. The first phase will use grid power and target commercial customers from early 2028. Planning, regulatory and network approvals remain pending, as does the search for a secured tenant. Drax has not yet made a final investment decision.

Radiant CEO Mahdi Yahya said the agreement offers "a unique opportunity for the UK's AI ecosystem to build at scale." Operating from the UK, he said, will give British researchers and enterprises access to frontier compute at home.

Europe is scrambling to build AI infrastructure after the United States surged ahead. The U.K. has faced high energy costs and long grid connection delays. In October, Microsoft pulled out of a deal to anchor an Nscale data center outside London amid those delays. An Nscale spokesperson said the company remained committed to the project and was exploring alternative power sources.

The Nordics offer abundant power and available land. In September, Google said it would invest at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in AI infrastructure in Finland, marking the tech giant's largest single investment in Europe.