Greens pile pressure on First Minister to halt hyperscale data centres
Following a summer of government inaction, the Scottish Greens have urged the First Minister to impose an immediate halt on ‘hyperscale’ data centres, as councils face a huge wave of speculative applications.
If approved, the first 24 of these applications would consume 1.5 times as much energy as the whole of Scotland.
At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Green Co-leader Ross Greer called for all data centre applications over 50MW to be paused until Scotland has a clear national strategy and robust criteria for deciding which projects should go ahead.
In this first question to the First Minister, Ross said:
“For months the Scottish Greens and communities across our country have called for the Scottish Government to hit pause on the dozens of applications to build hyperscale data centres in Scotland.
“As I told the First Minister in June, the first 24 of these applications alone would need 1.5x as much energy as the whole country. That is clearly absurd.
“It looked like the government was beginning to accept that urgent intervention was required. But earlier this week John Swinney published a Programme for Government which not only fails to hit pause on these applications - it is aimed at attracting even more data centres.
“That announcement has devastated communities across the country. The Government’s previous position was in favour of so-called green data centres, but back in June the First Minister could not give a definition of what makes a data centre green.
“This week a new word has been added - responsible green data centres. So, can the First Minister tell Parliament and the hundreds of campaigners rallying outside right now exactly what makes a data centre responsible and green?”
In his response, the First Minister failed to provide a clear definition of what the government considers to be a ‘responsible green data centre.’
In his second question Ross called for guidance to be published before any applications are considered, saying:
“The First Minister says action has been taken over the summer, but requiring councils to simply issue a notice to the Scottish Government that an application has been lodged does not change the fundamentals of this.
“Councils have not been provided with the guidance they require to make consideration of these applications.
“The government promises that the strategy that was announced in the Programme for Government, that it is yet to set out, will include these clear definitions for these data centres.
“Even if that is true, it will come far too late for the communities fighting these totally inappropriate applications right now.
“Even the SNP’s own National Council agrees that a pause is required until the strategy is in place and until that adequate guidance has been given to the councils struggling to deal with these applications.
“The First Minister says the Cabinet will consider this in the Autumn. The Cabinet was asked to consider this over the Summer , because these applications are live now.
“For the First Minister’s strategy to be of any use whatsoever, it needs to be published in full well ahead of the point where councillors will actually make decisions on these applications.
“So, can the First Minister tell Parliament when that strategy will be revealed?”
In his response the First Minister defended the government’s position but did not lay out a time line for the publication of the strategy.
Responding to the First Minister, Ross highlighted the threat of the controversial development at Larbert, which is for a 300MW data centre with 200 diesel generators, right beside a care home.
In his third question Ross said:
“The First Minister says that the changes made over the summer will result in more national scrutiny of these applications.
“On the basis of what? Because no planning guidance has been produced to deal with this new wave of applications. They are utterly unlike previous data centres that have been constructed and that are necessary for our economy.
“The Government says it is in favour of so-called green data centres. But the developer at Larbert admits their application would have a major, adverse impact on the environment and the local community.
“Their proposal is for a 300MW data centre with 200 diesel generators, right beside a care home, some of whose residents are on ventilators.
“Hundreds of people from communities across the country - from Larbert to Bishopbriggs, from Auchtertool to the Lammermuirs - are outside Parliament right now, demanding a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres.
“That pause should have started in June, but the next best time for it is now. The Scottish Greens are ready and willing to work with the Scottish Government on a credible data centres strategy. But if these live applications aren’t paused that strategy will come far too late and it will be meaningless at that point.
“Will the First Minister hit pause now and halt consideration of all new hyperscale data centres until full planning guidance and a new national strategy are in place?”