Xela Energy (formerly Clean Energy Capital), a UK-based provider of private-wire renewable energy systems for data centres and industrial-scale power consumers, has received full planning permission for a 5MW solar farm that will supply renewable electricity directly to IBM’s Hursley campus near Winchester, England.
The project is the first in the UK to connect a data centre to a dedicated solar installation via a private-wire arrangement. The solar farm will be built on agricultural land located close to the Hursley site and will provide traceable renewable energy directly to the IBM campus.
By operating independently of the UK’s main electricity grid and without reliance on government subsidies, the project is intended to contribute to national decarbonisation targets, while also helping to reduce strain on grid infrastructure and improve overall energy security.
Once operational, the facility is expected to generate nearly 5 million kWh of energy per year. Over its lifetime, this is estimated to reduce CO₂ emissions by 46,000 tonnes – equivalent to planting around 60,000 trees.
In addition to powering IBM’s 27,000ft² data centre, which opened in 1977, the project includes landscaping features and dedicated areas to support Biodiversity Net Gain.
Xela Energy, which has a growing pipeline of private-wire schemes, describes its approach as land-led rather than consultancy-led – focusing on securing sites near large energy consumers to provide fully funded, dedicated clean energy solutions.
The company develops, builds, owns, and operates each installation directly, delivering “low-cost, traceable electricity” to its clients.
“This project represents a major milestone in how large power users can decarbonise with certainty, speed, and integrity,” claims Alexander Goodall, founder and CEO of Xela Energy.
“It’s a blueprint for how the UK can decarbonise its most energy-intensive industries at scale. If our energy is unsustainable, so is our existence.
“That’s why Xela Energy exists: to make clean, cost-effective power available directly at the point of use without waiting for policy, grid reform, or subsidies. Projects like this show we don’t have to choose between economic growth and environmental responsibility, it’s possible to have both.”
The Hursley installation is set to begin construction in the coming months. It comes at a time when data centre energy demand is increasing, driven by generative AI and other high-performance computing workloads.
