It is time for a national conversation about data centres in Scotland
A mass protest on the Royal Mile came less that a year after Scotland started hearing about data centres - things have moved rapidly since then, writes Dr Kat Jones
Yesterday thousands of people marched down the royal mile to demand to have a say on AI Data Centres.
It was a colourful, noisy gathering with hand-appliqued banners, bagpipes and music, with a rally at the Parliament afterwards with music and rousing speeches. It was a much larger version of the rally outside the Parliament at the start of September when more than 300 people from communities opposed to hyperscale data centre proposals gathered outside the Parliament with others concerned about the impact of AI on jobs, and on the power of a few US tech bosses over our lives.
Since then things have moved on rapidly, a debate in the Parliament in mid September resulted in a vote to pause data centre decisions until guidance was in place followed, almost immediately, by a developer putting in an application for a 1000MW data centre in Dumfries and Galloway. The proposal is to be bigger than the largest operating on the planet at the moment, Colossus 2, in Memphis, which is powering Elon Musk’s problematic chatbot Grok.
READ MORE: Resilience is the key to data centres debate
We are in a dramatically different position than we were just over a year ago when I wrote in the Scotsman to launch our campaign calling for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for all hyperscale data centres and proper research into their impacts.
In an article entitled ‘Why AI data centres pose a huge threat to Scotland's countryside’ I explained why a countryside charity is taking on the hyperscale AI data centres, which, due to their vast energy demands, will dramatically increase the amount of energy infrastructure in the countryside and, also, our ability to tackle climate change.
As I wrote: “We need all sectors of the economy and society to pull in the same direction so that we can avoid the worst impacts of climate change. And we can’t build data centres that use the same energy as whole cities without clear-sighted and strategic decision-making informed by knowledge of the full environmental impacts.”
Since then, five new planning applications have landed, totaling 2,150 MW of capacity, joining the 213 MW Edinburgh Gyle proposal. Around 5,000 MW is still waiting in the wings in pre-planning. NESO says that there is even more in the grid queue, enough to triple Scotland’s peak energy demand. But we also now have several of the things we asked for, including EIAs for all data centres over 50MW, and assurances that planning guidance and a strategic approach will be produced. However the most fundamental aspect of what we have been asking for, a proper investigation into the impacts on the grid, communities, climate goals and land is not forthcoming and neither is any kind of public consultation on the measures being proposed.
We need the Scottish Government to make the pause voted for by the Parliament real. The Minister for Public Finance, Hannah Mary Goodlad has said on multiple occasions since then that she does not anticipate any decisions being made before they publish their guidance. But they have not written to the local authorities to advise them how to handle applications and we still have two applications, Larbert and Chapelcross, under active consideration by local authorities with a determination date for Larbert being imminent. We also have an active inquiry ongoing from the Climate Action Committee which heard from its third set of witnesses on Thursday. Meanwhile the Scottish Government is insistent that they will not be consulting on the guidance that they are writing and that this will be rushed out for Christmas. We say that can’t happen. This is on a subject of national interest and should be open for proper scrutiny.
There is now a whole movement of people who have joined calls for proper scrutiny of these proposals. At least fifteen local campaigns have grown out of efforts to stop proposals for hyperscale AI data centres in their communities. These dedicated and knowledgeable campaigners are, very effectively, making the case that each and every one of the proposals would have extremely detrimental effects on local environment, local health and on wider issues like climate. And the campaign has grown way beyond local campaigns. Friends of the Earth, who coordinated the march on Saturday, published the names of 80 organisations backing the march including trade unions, parent groups and peace groups as well as the community campaign groups.
The calls for consultation with the public and civil society now stretch much further than our asks regarding the policy and guidance for data centres. The march was calling for no less than a national conversation about AI and hyperscale data centres. Scotland held a general election less than six months ago and hyperscale AI data centres did not feature in the manifestos, nor the campaigns of any of the political parties. The Scottish Government simply do not have a mandate to push forward with their plans to roll out the red carpet to hyperscale AI data centres, the public wants a say.
It is difficult to escape the news that data centres were the big issue in the US Midterms, with candidates across the political spectrum from MAGA to Democrats winning seats on a ticket to stop the data centres. We have seen a similar cross-party interest in the issue of hyperscale AI data centres here in Scotland with debates brought to the Parliament both by Greens and by Reform, and parliamentary questions asked by every single party. In the light of the analysis of voting motivation from the US midterms, it will be interesting to see what Scotland’s local council elections bring in May.
Dr Kat Jones is the director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland
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