The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) has said that several blue-chip organisations have submitted formal Expressions of Interest in developing energy and data centre assets on its 700-hectare South Wales site.
GCRE is a new, purpose-built facility being developed in South West Wales for international rail research, testing and net zero technology development. The GCRE site has the potential to become Europe’s leading cluster for rail and sustainable mobility innovation.
Over the last few months GCRE has been seeking a partner to develop Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and a Data Centre (DC) on the site, a former open cast mine equivalent to the size of Gibraltar.
The plan is for the partner to develop the assets alongside the rail project.
GCRE Chief Executive Simon Jones said there was clear market appetite from potential bidders following the close of the first phase of the selection process. A second stage of dialogue will now take place with bidders to develop their proposals further.
The GCRE site is only 30km from Bridgend and 50km from Cardiff, where Data Centre clusters are already forming as part of the UK Government’s AI Growth Zone.
GCRE Ltd Chief Executive Simon Jones said:
“Following the close of the first stage of our competition we can see clear market appetite from partners in our site as a location for high quality energy and data centre infrastructure.
“The last few months have been very encouraging and we will now continue the dialogue with the various bidders to develop the potential of their ideas further.
“The opportunity for a long-term development partnership with GCRE is a unique one. The GCRE site’s size, power grid and telecoms connectivity make it very appealing for the development of renewable energy and data centre assets. 132kV and 400kV power lines cross over the GCRE site, with high quality fibre connectivity being progressed for the area – something investors are clearly interested in.
“Energy and data centre infrastructure on the site will help underpin GCRE’s wider development and is something that underpins our search for investment for the rail project.
“We have seen in recent times the important ways in which the energy and AI policy landscape is developing fast. The UK is seeking to harness the opportunities of net zero transition and AI by developing the infrastructure needed to support it. Wales is at the forefront of that change – just recently South Wales was designated as a new AI Growth Zone by the UK Government.
“GCRE and the modern energy and data infrastructure we can build on the site is clearly one of those opportunities and it’s something we believe we can use as a platform for the new green jobs we can then create around the rail cluster.”
The competition is being developed in parallel with GCRE’s separate search for investment for the railway.
GCRE said it would provide further progress updates on the competition later in 2026.
