 has opened a community consultation on [Longmarsh Green Energy](https://longmarshgreenenergy.co.uk), a proposal pairing a data center cam...](https://cdn.baxtel.com/data-center/evolution-power-proposes-1gw-data-center-and-1-3gw-solar-farm-in-norfolk/logo/evolution-power-proposes-1gw-data-center-and-1-3gw-solar-farm-in-norfolk-featured.webp){kind=logo}
Evolution Power Limited has opened a community consultation on Longmarsh Green Energy, a proposal pairing a data center campus that would draw up to 1GW with a 1.3GW solar farm and battery storage across about 4,695 acres of farmland near King's Lynn in west Norfolk. The developer says the scheme could attract £25 billion of investment and be running by 2032, subject to a Development Consent Order (DCO) application planned for April 2027. Consultation runs until 26 November.
Official project visualization from the developer's Longmarsh Green Energy consultation site.
EPL Norfolk, a subsidiary of the independent solar developer, splits the project into a western site north-east of Tilney St Lawrence, south of the A47, and an eastern site near the villages of Fincham and Barton Bendish. Both would connect to the existing transmission substation at Walpole, and reNEWS reported a grid connection date of 2031. The campus would use closed-loop cooling that recirculates liquid rather than drawing from mains supplies.
On generation, the solar element would out-produce any other solar scheme currently proposed nationally, with BBC reporting comparing it against the contested 720MW High Grove project also planned in rural Norfolk. Residents nearby have said they were shocked by the scale of the land take, and a 150MW data center proposed at Keswick on the edge of Norwich has already drawn thousands of objections.
EPL Norfolk claims the work would create thousands of construction jobs, more than 500 direct operational roles and a further 1,500 supported jobs, with the campus taking renewable power directly from the solar farm. "Longmarsh Green Energy would bring significant local and national economic benefits, providing secure renewable energy and data centre capacity, both of which are critical for future UK economic growth," said a project spokesperson.
Scale puts the decision in Westminster. The scheme qualifies as a nationally significant infrastructure project, so the Planning Inspectorate examines it and ministers decide, with a ruling possible by mid-2028. North West Norfolk MP James Wild said the plan "could represent further large scale industrialisation of the landscape," while King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council leader Alistair Beales said the authority would "do our job locally and reflect residents' concerns."
Baxtel counts 607 data center facilities in the United Kingdom, run by 219 providers. The largest is Vantage Data Centers' CWL13 campus in Newport, Wales, at 80MW, and England holds 512 of the country's facilities with more than 2,100MW of tracked capacity.
The pairing of generation and load is the part worth watching. Large UK schemes routinely stall on grid queues that stretch into the 2030s, and EPL is betting that its own solar and batteries, tied to the Walpole connection, shorten the path.
The capacity arithmetic invites doubt. Solar at 1.3GW nameplate cannot carry a 1GW load that runs around the clock, so the campus will lean on the grid and its batteries for most of its energy, and the renewable share will sit well below the headline figure. Whether a developer with no data center track record can clear the NSIP process ahead of better-funded rivals is the test that matters.
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