Earlham Gigagrid Update and Investor Meet Company
Orcadian Energy PLC
07 October 2026
07 October 2026
Orcadian Energy plc
(“Orcadian” or the “Company”)
Earlham Gigagrid Update and Investor Meet Company
Orcadian continues to engage with a number of potential partners on the Earlham Gigagrid project and has learned a lot about the feasibility of building an offshore datacentre over the last few months. The Company will present an update on the Earlham Gigagrid project via Investor Meet Company on 8 October 2026 at 12:30 BST.
Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 11am on the day of the meeting, or at any time during the live presentation; attendees can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet Orcadian Energy plc via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/orcadian-energy-plc/register-investor
The presentation will also be available on the Company’s website: https://orcadian.energy/
Datacentre densification
The Directors consider that support for the viability of offshore compute can be drawn from published reports concerning SpaceXAI’s Minihard datacentre at the Colossus 2 complex in Memphis, Tennessee, which is reported to be nearing completion. As reported, the Minihard building is intended to house 220,000 Nvidia GB300s[1] and is expected to draw in excess of 450MW of total power with 400MW of IT[2] compute, and a building permit has been reported for a four-storey structure of approximately 29,000 m2. Assuming 72 GPUs per rack[3] the facility would comprise around 3,000 racks consuming about 130 kW per rack. See footnotes for the third-party reports on which this is based but which the Company has not independently verified.
The “densification” of the datacentre continues apace. Minihard is reported to occupy materially less space than Macroharder, the previous generation SpaceXAI datacentre, while housing the same compute capacity in a denser configuration.
The initial Earlham Gigagrid facilities are planned to deliver 200MW of IT compute power, half the reported capacity of the Minihard building. Applying the reported Minihard footprint on a linear basis would suggest the Earlham Gigagrid project would require approximately 14,500 m2. Assuming a 50m x 50m offshore platform, that space could be provided over six floors.
This is an illustrative desktop comparison prepared by the Company to indicate order of magnitude only. It is not an engineering study, no offshore platform design has been undertaken, and no assurance is given that an offshore facility of this configuration is technically feasible, financeable or capable of being permitted.
Orcadian is planning on deploying yet more compact and marinised systems. The Directors consider that the reported Minihard specifications indicate that rack power and cooling densities of the order required for an offshore datacentre are already being achieved onshore in practice. The Company would aim to densify further and is targeting a rack power density of over 300 kW per rack, which would materially reduce the space requirement. Whether equivalent or tighter densities can be achieved offshore, where marinisation, weight, seawater cooling and a different consenting regime all apply, remains to be established.
Private wire electricity cost estimate
The Earlham Gigagrid concept provides power and infrastructure to support the deployment of offshore compute, disconnected from the UK grid, and which is designed to minimise Scope 3 emissions. To assess the effective cost of electricity to a compute operator under an offshore private wire arrangement, the Directors have calculated the power price at which the project would deliver target rates of return of 20% for the gas development and 15% for the power station over a twenty-year operating life. On that basis, and assuming that UK Emissions Trading Scheme and Carbon Price Support charges are levied only on the 5% of carbon dioxide not captured and that no Climate Change Levy is charged, the private wire power price would need to be approximately £124/MWh. That would be less than 60% of the price of industrial electricity supplies from the grid, based on DESNZ Table 3.4.1[4] for extra-large industrial consumers during 2026, which is £218/MWh.
The estimate is internally generated, has not been independently verified, and is sensitive to the assumed rates of return and to the Company’s current assumptions as to gas price, capital cost and utilisation. It remains subject to the concept select and validation work still to be undertaken.
Carbon dioxide abatement cost
The Company has also recently completed an analysis of the abatement cost associated with the capture and storage of carbon dioxide at the Earlham project and estimated the incremental cost of carbon capture, discounted at 10%, at about £11 for each tonne of carbon dioxide captured. This estimate excludes UK Emissions Trading Scheme and similar charges, which when applied improve the economics of capture. The equivalent abatement cost in terms of a tonne of carbon is approximately £39. These estimates are internally generated, unaudited and have not been independently verified.
The cost of capture and storage is lower than people might expect because designing carbon capture from the start, rather than retrofitting equipment, is more economical; there are effectively no gathering or transportation costs; corrosion risks can be managed by metallurgy rather than purification of a carbon dioxide stream; and the Capsol system generates additional power rather than purely being a parasitic power drain.
The Company will provide further updates in due course.
Steve Brown, Orcadian CEO, said:
“We compared the Earlham project with the reported SpaceXAI Minihard data centre and were encouraged to find that a facility of those reported dimensions could in principle be accommodated on an offshore platform. Obviously, we will seek to increase the power per rack and to pursue both power distribution and cooling technologies that can further reduce the space requirement, but it is remarkable to be able to point to an onshore analogue at this scale and at this time.
“Since launching this project, we have only gained more confidence that the offshore is the best place to locate a datacentre, and that carbon capture integrated into the power station concept with injection into the reservoir from which the carbon came, is the most efficient way to decarbonise power supply.”
For further information on the Company please visit the Company’s website: https://orcadian.energy
Contact:
|
Orcadian Energy plc |
+ 44 20 7920 3150 |
|
Steve Brown, CEO Alan Hume, CFO |
|
|
Zeus (Nomad and Joint Broker) |
+44 20 3829 5000 |
|
Darshan Patel / Alex Slater (Investment Banking) Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking) |
|
|
Albr (Joint Broker) |
+44 207 399 9425 |
|
Colin Rowbury / Jon Belliss |
|
Qualified Person's Statement
Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules and in particular, the AIM Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, Maurice Bamford has reviewed and approved the geological and resource information contained in this announcement. The datacentre, power cost and carbon abatement estimates referred to above have been prepared by the Company and do not fall within the scope of this statement.
Maurice has more than 36 years' experience in the oil & gas industry and 3 years in academia. He holds a BSc in Geology from Queens University Belfast and a PhD in Geology from the National University of Ireland. Maurice is a Fellow of the Geological Society, London, and a member of the Geoscience Energy Society of Great Britain. He is Exploration and Geoscience Manager at Orcadian Energy.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes”, “intends”, “may”, “will”, “plans”, “expects” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and reflect the Directors’ current view with respect to future events. They are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including in relation to regulatory and governmental approvals, the outcome of the concept select process, the identification of suitable counterparties, and prevailing economic and market conditions, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. No statement in this announcement is intended to be, or should be construed as, a profit forecast or estimate, or a valuation of the Company or any of its assets. The forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement and, save as required by the AIM Rules for Companies, the Market Abuse Regulation or other applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise them.
About Orcadian Energy
Orcadian is a North Sea focused, low-emissions, oil and gas exploration and development company. Orcadian may be a small operator, but it is also nimble, and the Directors believe it has grasped opportunities that have eluded some of the much bigger companies. As we strike a balance between Net Zero and a sustainable energy supply, Orcadian intends to play its part to minimise the cost of Net Zero and to deliver reliable energy to the UK.
Viscous oil
As part of its viscous oil strategy Orcadian has an 18.75% carried interest in the Pilot development project, Pilot was discovered by PetroFina in 1989 and has been well appraised. The field has excellent quality reservoir and has contingent resources of 79 MMbbl of a viscous oil ranging in gravity from 17º API in the South of the reservoir to 12º API in the North. In planning the Pilot development, Orcadian has selected polymer flooding and wind power to transform the production of viscous oil into a cleaner and greener process. Polymer significantly reduces fluid handling requirements and hence energy consumption as well as boosting recovery. Ithaca Energy, operator of the Captain field in the Inner Moray Firth, has enjoyed consistent success in applying polymer flood to the highly analogous Captain field. Following the recent farm-down of Pilot, the project is now under the stewardship of Ping Petroleum UK PLC (“Ping”) and is intended to be amongst the lowest carbon emitting oil production facilities in the world.
Ping is progressing a low-emissions, phased, field development plan for Pilot based upon a polymer flood of the reservoir, a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) and provision of power from a floating wind turbine or a local wind farm.
Orcadian has an 18.75% fully carried interest in licence P2244 (block 21/27a) and a 100% interest in licence P2482 (blocks 28/2a and 28/3a). Ping is operator of P2244 and the Pilot development project. P2482 covers the Elke and Narwhal discoveries which contain 54 MMbbl of contingent resources.
The Fynn licence was awarded in the 33rd round, P2634, contains a very substantial heavy oil discovery. About 88% of the resource on a best technical case is estimated to lie within the area of the P2634 licence. Orcadian has a 50% working interest in the Fynn licence which is operated by Serica. The Fynn licence covers blocks 14/15a, 14/20d and 15/11a.
Gas
Orcadian was awarded two gas licences in the 33rd Round. The Mid-North Sea High licence, P2650, contains shallow gas leads. Orcadian applied in partnership with Triangle Energy, an Australian listed energy company. Orcadian is licence administrator and holds 50% of the offered licence. The Mid-North Sea High licence covers blocks 29/16, 29/17, 29/18, 29/19, 29/21, 29/22, 29/23, 29/27 and 29/28.
The SNS licence, P2680 100% Orcadian, contains the Earlham discovery, a low-calorie gas discovery with 114 bcf of methane resources on a P50 basis, the Clover prospect which has P50 prospective resources of 153 bcf, and the decommissioned Orwell field which has redevelopment potential with 31 bcf resources on a P50 basis, alongside a number of smaller prospects. Orcadian has established Earlham Gigagrid to provide a vehicle for investment in the Earlham development, power station and datacentre potential, without diluting Orcadian’s shareholders’ interests in its viscous oil and Central North Sea projects.
[1]https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/musk-confirms-fourth-spacexai-data-center-in-memphis-company-starts-removing-illegal-gas-turbines/
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
ENDRNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.