THE lack of an announcement of a moratorium on AI hyperscale data centres in Scotland has been branded a “slap in the face” for campaigners.
In Tuesday’s Programme for Government, ministers said they would publish a “strategic approach to attracting and securing responsible green data centre investment in Scotland”.
However, local communities where these sites are proposed have been vocally campaigning against them and calling for a temporary ban on any developments.
In July, the SNP’s National Council backed calls for a moratorium to be imposed by ministers, joining the Scottish Greens who also opposed the plans.
The Greens launched a petition calling for a pause to be brought in, which now has 24,000 signatures.
The Programme for Government only has one mention of AI data centres, which states: “Publish a strategic approach to attracting and securing responsible green data centre investment in Scotland, with clear expectations around environmental sustainability, resource use, community benefit and the economic and strategic value these developments should deliver.”
Campaigners had hoped that a recent intervention on several proposed AI data centres by Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodland seemed to “signal a change in approach”.
They have raised concerns about the environmental impact of the developments and their pressure on Scotland’s energy supply.
Action for Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS) calculated in December that data centres in the planning pipeline at the end of last year would add between 4450MW and 4950MW to Scotland’s energy demand, while more recent analysis by the Scottish Greens said that the 24 plans on the table last month would add 6000MW to electricity demand – more than 1.5 times Scotland’s peak power use currently.
Kat Jones, director of APRS said: "The Scottish Government is at last slowly starting to respond to the threat of a speculative hyperscale data centre gold rush, with their plans for a strategic approach, but this will only work if they put a hold on proposals.
“Ministers must immediately pause the three live applications in Larbert, Auchtertool and Greenock and make clear their intentions to publish the strategic plan before any hyperscale data centres are granted planning permission.
"Communities across Scotland face the threat of a hyperscale data centre, with new proposals continuing to appear. The status quo means they will continue to have fears over air quality, loss of local green spaces, and an effective end to hopes for meeting our climate targets. People can't sell their homes and businesses cannot invest. A planning moratorium is the only route out of this uncertainty."
There is fierce opposition to AI data centres proposed for a variety of areas across Scotland.
Lisa Beencham, who is part of the Hurlford campaign opposing a development in East Ayrshire, said: "The Scottish government are already using language favoured by developers when discussing these data centres. Without a planning moratorium this is a slap in the face to communities who have clearly put more work into understanding this new industry than those paid to represent us"
Another huge development in Auchtertool, Fife, which would be a 600MW data centre reportedly bigger than the village it neighbours, has also seen vigorous opposition.
Penny Sinclair, of Auchtertool Action Group, said: "The Programme for Government says a lot about tackling the climate emergency, benefitting nature and protecting our beautiful Scotland, but until there is a pause on this rush for hyperscale data centres and a proper strategy this is just warm words.”
Both developments are part of The Stoics, three proposed sites in the central belt which will be among the largest hyperscale data centre clusters in the world. ILI Group, the developers in charge of the project, are behind three planned AI data centres in the central belt: Cato in Auchtertool, Fife, Aurelius in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire and Rufus, near Hurlford in East Ayrshire.
There are 20 AI data centres currently in the planning system, so far, from a variety of developers.
One site in Larbert, Falkirk, proposed for development by Apatura, has also seen local residents up in arms.
Hazel McQueen of the Larbert Campaign said: "We have been shouting about this for months and asking someone to actually stop and listen to the people of Larbert. We've proved that ordinary people standing together can make one hell of a noise when we need to and we are not going to stop until we have stopped the threat to our community."
The Scottish Greens have said the announcements in the Programme for Government are a “far cry” from what campaigners, local residents and the party have been calling for.
“The government has only set out plans to bring even more hyperscale data centres to Scotland rather than setting out clear regulations, ignoring the campaigners, residents, local businesses and the 24,000 signatures the Greens received on this issue,” MSP Patrick Harvie said.
“The Scottish Government still hasn’t defined what a ‘green’ data centre is, or how local residents, businesses and our energy grid can be protected from the current wave of hyperscale data centres, which are being proposed by a profit-hungry industry.
“If hundreds of megawatts of renewable electricity are diverted from homes to hyperscale data centres, it has the very real potential to destabilise our power grid, undoing the work we’ve achieved towards net-zero.”
Harvie added that he was not surprised by this as the SNP have “continuously rolled back on their climate commitments”.
“Allowing the data centre industry to grab Scotland’s natural resources for their own benefit would be yet another example,” he said, reiterating the party’s call for a pause until a firmer plan has been put in place.
