Scotland is planning to put in place mandatory environmental assessments before they can be built, due to concerns about their impact on energy, water, emissions and local communities.
The rules mean that any data centre above 50MW will have to submit environmental impact assessments, as Scotland has seen a disproportionate rise in proposals compared to logistically feasible plans. The issue isn’t just the volume though – it’s the scale. One proposed data centre in Fife has been dubbed the second largest in the world.
Kat Jones, the director of the NGO Action to Protect Rural Scotland is in favour of the new rules, but fears enough hasn’t been done to protect Scotland.
She said: “This is extremely good news and something that we have been asking for since the start of our campaign, but without a moratorium, the other essential work can’t be done. A pause on planning decisions is absolutely essential,”
“Just the first four applications under consideration at the moment would use as much energy as is generated by Torness nuclear power station, due to close in 2030. A modest pause will give time for the government to put in place the necessary planning guidance, assess how much datacentre capacity Scotland actually needs and where any should go, and assess and manage the impacts on the grid and the climate.”
Scotland is facing a huge potential increase in electricity demand from the data centre boom. Proposals currently in the planning system could require up to 6GW of power if approved – more than 1.5 times Scotland’s peak electricity use.
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