Environmental impact assessments will have to be carried out before large-scale data centres can go ahead, the Scottish Government has said.
Public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad made the announcement – which will affect plans for data centres with a power capacity of more than 50 megawatts – ahead of a debate at Holyrood calling for a moratorium on all such developments.
The Scottish Greens are calling for a moratorium to allow for a national strategy on data centres to be developed.
With campaigners having raised concerns about the environmental impact of the facilities, Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie warned about a “huge surge” in proposed developments.
The Green Party motion, to be debated at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, calls for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres until a national strategy and updated planning guidance are put in place.
A Government amendment however stresses that “new hyperscale data centres in Scotland will only be approved where they have met robust environmental impact assessments”.
Ms Goodlad said data centres “are a rapidly evolving sector” and that evidence about their impact on the environment continues to develop.
She said: “As this is an emerging industry, we have the opportunity to get this right from the start. The guidance issued today is the next step in that process.”
She stressed the need to “balance the economic and employment interests in developing data centres with national energy, climate and community wealth building ambitions” as well as “the potential impact on local communities”.
She added: “Ensuring that an environmental impact assessment is always part of the application process will create a level playing field for developers and will ensure potentially significant environmental effects are considered from the outset.”
Mr Harvie however insisted a moratorium is needed to halt a “big tech free-for-all” as councils consider a number of applications for data centres.
Wednesday’s vote give MSPs “their first opportunity to put the brakes on this speculative rush to build massive new AI data centres”, he added.
“Scotland is being hit by a huge surge of hyperscale AI data centre proposals, and the Scottish Government is standing by while councils are being left to deal with the consequences,” Mr Harvie said.
“The scale of what is being proposed is extraordinary. If the first 24 of these projects are approved, they will require one-and-a-half times Scotland’s entire peak electricity consumption. It is completely unsustainable.
“We cannot allow a big tech free-for-all. We cannot approve such huge new demands on our energy system without first asking whether these projects are in Scotland’s interests, where the power will come from, and who will ultimately benefit.
“Today, MSPs will have a chance to send a clear message and draw a line.
“Scotland needs a proper national strategy before this speculative frenzy goes any further.
“We need a proper national strategy, and today MSPs can vote to demand one.
“The Scottish Government should listen to the community groups who have been campaigning across the country.
“We need to put robust criteria in place, and make sure Scotland’s energy, land and infrastructure are working in the public interest rather than being handed over to the big tech industry on a speculative basis.”
Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) which has been leading protests against proposed data centres, described the new requirement for environmental impact assessments as “an important, but limited, first step”.
She said the move is “something that we have been asking for since the start of our campaign”, but added: “Without a moratorium the other essential work can’t be done.”
Dr Jones insisted: “It was always a total no-brainer that hyperscale data centres should be required to do environmental impact assessments, and we haven’t met anyone yet who disagrees.
“It is good that the Scottish Government is, at last, recognising this too.”
Meanwhile DataVita, which operates data centres in Lanarkshire and Glasgow, has invited Scottish Green co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, as well as APRS, to visit its site in Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire.
Managing director Danny Quinn said: “Nearly all of us use data centres every single day whether we realise it or not – from being able to use online banking and working from home, to scientists delivering ground-breaking medical research.
“They are the critical infrastructure that makes many of the things we do in modern life possible, and that is only going to accelerate as technology becomes even more entwined with daily life.
“Although AI is very much a hot topic at the moment, there is no doubt it is here to stay and the question for Scotland is how can we best use it to support jobs, skills, the public services we all rely on and the way we live, more generally.”
