PRESSURE is building on the Scottish Government to back a moratorium on hyperscale data centres after an SNP MSP said it should be given “serious consideration”.
In a debate at Holyrood on Thursday evening, Alan Brown – whose Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency includes the proposed 540MW Rufus hyperscale facility – also called for a “better definition” of what constitutes a so-called “green data centre”.
It comes as the First Minister has come under growing pressure to take further action from both MSPs and campaigners.
In August, the Scottish Government announced planning authorities would be required to notify ministers of data centre applications within seven days of validation.
The new direction applies to data centre developments exceeding 50 megawatts (MW) of power capacity and will support strategic monitoring of the pipeline of such planning applications and of the implications for wider infrastructure.
Public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad also recalled a planning appeal for ministerial decision relating to a proposed green data centre in Edinburgh, and issued directions requiring environmental impact assessments at locations in Fife and Edinburgh.
But Swinney has stopped short of calling for a full moratorium on new developments.
“The Scottish Government hopes AI will make public services more efficient. And for many developers, AI provides the hope that they can make a quick buck,” Brown told MSPs in the chamber.
“Developers like ILI who have proposed the Rufus hyperscale data centre for my constituency, where they're looking to get planning permission in principle and sell the site on, it's almost impossible to fully scrutinise proposals and apply realistic planning conditions.”
He added: “It's for that reason that we definitely do require a better definition of what constitutes a green data centre.
“Indeed, my local authority, Ayrshire Council, has actually written to the Scottish Government requesting guidance on this definition, and has also requested a moratorium in the meantime. I think we'll have to give serious consideration to this.”
Brown went on: “Now, presumably a green data centre cannot be one that relies on diesel generators and cannot be allowed to increase carbon emissions, that ultimately the taxpayer would then have to pick up the reduction as part of our net-zero obligations.
“And I do agree that we need a strategic review assessing how many or how few hyperscale data centres that Scotland can support. We need to consider power requirements, water usage, other key assets and identify key possible sites.
“You cannot have this position whereby, at the moment, it's possible for 32 local authorities to award planning permission for a hyperscale data centre, so we could have 32 or more right across Scotland being given planning permission. It's just not logical or coherent, and that's why we do need a strategy.”
