Amazon Secures Key UK Site for Data Center Expansion with $265 Million Deal
December 17, 2025
In a significant move highlighting the ongoing transformation of energy infrastructure to support digital growth, Amazon has acquired the site of the former Didcot A coal-fired power station in Oxfordshire, UK, from German energy giant RWE. The transaction, valued at $265 million, underscores the intense demand for well-connected, power-rich locations suitable for hyperscale data center development across Europe.
The deal was revealed after Deutsche Bank analysts identified Amazon as the buyer of an "idle site" that RWE had noted selling to an unnamed hyperscaler in its recent earnings report. The site, a combined coal and oil plant that opened in 1970 and was capable of generating 1,440MW at its peak, was fully demolished between 2014 and 2020.
Planning history indicates Amazon Web Services' long-standing interest in the location. As first reported exclusively by DCD in 2021, an entity linked to AWS filed plans to build two data centers with a total floorspace of 54,760 square meters (590,000 square feet). While those plans were approved, recent applications under the name "Amazon Data Services" describe a revised project: the demolition of remaining structures followed by the construction of a single data center building. The local council has set a target decision date of March 3, 2026, for the current consultation.
This acquisition is a strategic play by Amazon to bolster its infrastructure in a key market. The company currently operates one UK cloud region, launched in the Bristol area in 2016, and has been linked to several other potential projects across the country, including in Bedfordshire, Middlesex, and Wiltshire. The repurposing of a former fossil fuel power station site for a cutting-edge data center symbolizes a broader industry shift, where technology giants are capitalizing on existing grid connections and land to meet the soaring compute demands driven by artificial intelligence and cloud services.
Source: datacenterdynamics
Amazon Acquires Former Didcot A Coal Plant Site from RWE for UK Data Center Development
