Bright idea? UK firm pioneers data centres using lampposts

Source: BBC Technology

Published 2 hours ago

Conflow Power Group

Overview

There have been many attempts to place data centres in unusual locations over the years – Microsoft put a data centre under the sea, and Elon Musk has suggested putting them in space.

Now a UK firm is betting on data centres built from thousands of connected smart lampposts. The company has signed a formal agreement with a Nigerian state to deploy 50,000 of these units.

The Technology

• Company: Warwickshire‑based Conflow Power Group Limited (CPG)
• Product: Solar‑powered iLamp units
• Function: Each iLamp contains a cylindrical solar panel that charges onboard batteries, which then power a low‑powered computer capable of handling AI tasks.
• Concept: When networked together, the iLamps act as a distributed AI data centre that both generates revenue and reduces reliance on the grid.

Expert Opinion

• Some experts told the BBC that this technology is not a substitute for the massive, high‑performance data centres required for the most demanding AI workloads.
• However, the iLamps could be useful for less demanding AI work, offering an environmentally friendly alternative for edge‑computing tasks.

Potential Impact

If scaled across thousands of units, the collective processing power of the iLamp network could approximate that of a traditional data centre while delivering environmental benefits by avoiding grid electricity consumption.

“Fried” Chips

Data‑centre industry veteran Prof. Ian Bitterlin told the BBC that the physical security of the streetlights would be a concern.

Fitzpatrick agrees:

“If people realise that there’s a $2,000 unit inside there they might try and steal it,” he said, adding that the posts were designed so the chip would be “fried” if removed.

Images

Conflow Power Group

iLamps in Use

• Warwickshire Hospital car‑park – iLamps are already installed.
• The lampposts can also function as AI‑powered surveillance cameras.

Nigeria deployment

• Each iLamp will be fitted with AI cameras capable of detecting:
  • Parking violations
  • Speeding vehicles
  • Seat‑belt non‑compliance

Existing capabilities (Warwick Hospital)

• “CCTV monitoring and number‑plate recognition,” according to CPG.

Potential Future Uses

• Facial‑recognition to locate wanted or missing people (Fitzpatrick).
• No such deployment is live yet, but “final‑stage negotiations” are under way with state schools and local authorities in Florida.

“Those worried about bias, misuse and loss of privacy caused by facial recognition may take a dim view of this capability.”

CPG states it will only roll out this technology in partnership with the relevant authority and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Public Interaction Idea

Fitzpatrick envisions the lights as a way for citizens to interact with the environment:

“You could walk past the streetlight, put your two fingers up like a victory sign and that could be voting for something. That could be a poll which you could put out onto social media.”

Power, Energy, Money

The energy use of AI systems is, according to some estimates, already approaching the same level as the entire United Kingdom¹ and there are similar concerns about their water consumption.

Solar‑powered streetlights vs. large data centres

• Supplement, not replace – Experts argue that solar‑powered streetlights are best suited to supplement large data centres rather than replace them. Their concentrated computing power and economies of scale will still be required.
• John Booth (Carbon3IT Ltd.) – The managing director of consultancy Carbon3IT Ltd and a member of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, told the BBC that the iLamps could be valuable as “a relatively low‑cost solution that can be used for small AI applications in conjunction with larger sites.”
• Bitterlin’s view – AI‑enabled streetlighting cannot replace the biggest data centres used to train large language models because the distance between posts would make communication too slow.
• Access‑point role – Nevertheless, thousands of AI‑enabled devices need to be placed closer to end‑users. The lampposts could act as “access points, just like mobile‑phone masts,” linking users to more powerful central data centres.

Business model & regional rollout

Visuals

References

Footnotes

1. Energy use of AI systems approaching that of the whole UK – ScienceDirect, 2025. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666389925002788 (accessed May 2026) ↩