Orcadian Energy starts assessment for offshore gas-to-data centre project with carbon capture

Orcadian Energy has begun the Assessment Phase for its Earlham and Orwell gas fields in the North Sea. The company plans to build an offshore power station with carbon capture to supply around 200 MW of low-carbon power to a co-located data centre. Captured carbon dioxide would be reinjected into the Earlham reservoir. The project, called the Earlham Gigagrid, aims to monetise gas resources estimated at 114 billion cubic feet for Earlham and 31 billion cubic feet for Orwell. The company is setting up a new subsidiary, Earlham Gigagrid Ltd, to incubate the project and attract third-party investment. The concept still needs approval from the NSTA and other regulators, along with commercial agreements and financing. CEO Steve Brown said the project could reduce pressure on the national grid while supporting rising demand for compute power from AI. The project remains subject to regulatory and financial hurdles before moving forward.