AI data centres: Where could the new hyperscale hubs be opened?

Could Scotland become a hub of hyperscale AI data centres? If the number of planning applications for these is anything to go by, this could soon be our future reality.

At the moment there are 15 AI data centres in operation across Scotland, with the largest one being in Lanarkshire with an operating capacity of 12MW.

These AI data centres store, process and run large amounts of data and software to power the internet. They use a lot of renewable energy, so Scotland is the ideal location because of the amount of wind farms there are.

Operational sites:

• Enterprise Court, Moray
• Brightsolid, Aberdeen
• Brightsolid, Dundee
• Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh
• RBS Macmerry, East Lothian
• Asanti Livingston, West Lothian
• Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
• Lanarkshire DV1, North Lanarkshire
• DC1 Glasgow, Glasgow

However, there is growing anger and concern amongst Scots, as there has been a spike in applications to build hyperscale data centres with power capacities in excess of 100MW.

Campaigners and community members from across Scotland taking part in a protest outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, calling on the Scottish Government to stop the development of AI data centres until their impact can be fully assessed. | Danyel VanReenen/PA Wire

Not only will these use a lot of energy to run, they could also cover several acres of land at the same time - and local residents near these proposed sites are not happy.

Get our revamped Steamie newsletter

As of the beginning of September 2026, there are 24 proposals for major new sites in Scotland. If they are all approved, they will consume up to 6,000MW, more than 1.5 times the total peak power use in the country at the moment.

Proposed sites:

• Ravenscraig West, North Lanarkshire - 550MW
• Ravenscraig East, North Lanarkshire - 500MW
• Coldstream, Borders - 300MW
• Plains (Drumshangie), North Lanarkshire - 500MW
• Auchtertool, Fife - 600MW
• Larbert, Falkirk - 300MW
• Hurlford, East Ayrshire, 540MW
• Hunterston, West Kilbride and North Ayrshire - unknown
• Newhouse, North Lanrigg Farm, North Lanarkshire - 400MW
• Greenock, Inverclyde, 150MW
• South Gyle, Edinburgh - 212MW
• Wester Hermiston, Edinburgh - 200MW
• Freeport, West Calder, West Lothian - 250MW
• Westerhill, Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire - 300MW
• Haspielaw, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire - unknown
• Ochiltree, East Ayrshire - 200MW
• Duns/Longformacus, Borders - 225MW
• Dunbar, East Lothian - unknown
• Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire - 500MW
• Chapelhall, South Lanridge Farm, North Lanarkshire - 500MW
• Chapelcross, Dumfries and Galloway - 100MW
• Cockenzie, East Lothian - unknown
• Blackdog, Aberdeen - 600MW

There are other sites which are now thought to not be going ahead, including a 600MW site at Dunoon in Argyll (which could be scaled up to 2,000MW), and a 1,000MW site in Irvine, North Ayrshire.

Most of the proposed sites are by a company called Apatura. Ten of them are going to be by this company.

Six of the planning applications are in North Lanarkshire.

Hundreds of campaigners from 15 different local groups gathered outside the Scottish Parliament last Thursday calling for a moratorium on these hyperscale data centres until there has been research to properly understand their impacts.

Last month the Scottish Government introduced new rules meaning planning authorities have to notify ministers of any data centre applications exceeding 50MW within seven days of validation.

But one of the concerns campaigners have is that the last national planning update was carried out in 2022, prior to the launch of ChatGPT and the boom in global AI. They say an urgent update to planning legislation at a national level is now needed.