FMQs: Greens call for halt to spread of ‘hyperscale’ data centres
The Scottish Greens have called on the First Minister to introduce a moratorium on ‘hyperscale’ data centres in Scotland before parliament breaks for the summer.
Councils across the country are facing a wave of planning applications for these industrial developments. If the 24 proposals announced so far are all approved, they'll need up to 6,000MW of electricity - more than 1.5 times Scotland's current peak demand.
Speaking at the First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Green Co-leader Ross Greer called for the First Minister to immediately pause all data centre applications over 50MW until Scotland has a clear national strategy and criteria to judge each individual application against.
In his first question to the First Minister, Ross said:
“Scotland faces a wave of applications for hyperscale data centres.
“If all of the applications currently in the pipeline are approved, they will consume up to 6000 megawatts of power - that’s more than 1.5 times our entire national power use at peak time. That is obviously completely impossible - but there currently isn’t any clear government strategy or guidance for councils on how to deal with these applications.
“They are completely different to the kind of data centres which already exist in Scotland. We’re not talking about socially and economically useful projects like the Edinburgh University supercomputer here.
“The Government’s policy is to support what they refer to as ‘green’ data centres, but this position was decided before ChatGPT even existed, before Elon Musk launched Grok - and before any of these hyperscale proposals came forward.
“So can I ask the First Minister - what is the Government’s definition of a green data centre?”
In his response the FM failed to provide a clear definition of what the government considers to be a ‘green data centre’ but said that they must have taken due consideration of environmental impacts. This is despite no environmental impact assessment being required of each application.
In his second question, Ross called for a pause on all hyperscale applications, saying:
“The First Minister’s response indicates that the government expects these centres to all be approached individually, but we need a coherent national strategy for this.
“It’s not an abstract issue - huge energy demands by these data centres will mean higher energy bills for everyone else and very real problems for the communities that surround them.
“Three London boroughs have reportedly put a freeze on house-building because of the impact of data centres on the grid. The centres use so much power that if more homes are built there wouldn’t be the grid capacity to provide them with electricity.
“This is urgent - there are applications that are set to be decided possibly before Parliament returns from our summer recess. Data centres can play an important role in our economy, but not if we let a free-for-all of unworkable applications continue.
“So can I ask the First Minister today, will he agree to a moratorium on new data centres in Scotland above 50mW until we can agree on a clear national strategy and give councils the specific guidance they need before they make any decisions on individual applications?”
In response the FM did not agree to a moratorium, instead suggesting local councils should consider these applications individually.
In his third question, Ross said:
“I can’t reconcile what the First Minister is saying about planning policy with how it is actually operating in practice. He says that the definition of a green data centre is one where environmental considerations have been taken into account.
“There is no requirement to do an environmental impact assessment on a data centre application. In fact six of the proposed hyperscale data centres in the pipeline right now have not undergone any environmental impact assessment, so they can’t possibly meet the definition that the First Minister has just set out.
“And they have not undergone that assessment because councils are dealing with these applications in the dark. They have not been given the guidance the First Minister is implying they have.
“One of those proposals which has not been subject to an impact assessment is the one at Auchtertool in Fife. It would be the size of a 100 football pitches and its 600mw energy need would be monumental - that's the same as about 1.3 million households for just one private business.
“Now I’m not asking the First Minister to comment on individual applications, he can’t do that. But I’d bring him back to the point that in total the 24 applications announced so far would need 6000 megawatts - more than one and half times our entire country’s total energy peak energy demands right now.
“The First Minister must recognise that is not possible. So will he come back to Parliament next week - before we suspend for the summer - and announce a pause on approvals for new hyperscale data centres until some kind of national plan is in place?”
Once again, the First Minister did not commit to a moratorium, saying that Parliament should have a wider debate about where decisions are made.