All new Data Centres which are 50+MW and are proposed for communities in Scotland will require an Environmental Impact Assessment.
On Wednesday, 16 September, the Scottish Greens led a debate in the Scottish Parliament about Hyper Scale Data Centres.
Patrick Harvey of the Scottish Greens explained that their main focus in this debate was about the energy being used by the massive centres currently being considered. He said:
“Our biggest concern is about energy. That includes heat that will go to waste unless heat networks are built, with serious financial contributions from the developers. Nonsense phrases such as “heat network ready” just will not cut it.
“However, even before we get to that point, the scale of electricity demand that we are talking about is staggering.”
The Scottish Greens wanted a moratorium in place so that no huge data centres could be built until their impacts were fully investigated.
Patrick Harvey continued:
“Just the first 24 current proposals would equal one and a half times Scotland’s peak electricity demand, and the Government wants to attract even more developments of that kind. That scale is clearly implausible, especially at a time when Scotland’s clean energy should be used to cut people’s bills and decarbonise our heating and transport.”
Speaking about the new planning requirements Public Finance Minister in the Scottish Government Hannah Mary Goodlad said:
“The Scottish Government recognises that data centres are a rapidly evolving sector attracting a broad range of views, opinions and concerns, and that evidence on the environmental impact of data centres continues to develop.
“As this is an emerging industry, we have the opportunity to get this right from the start. The guidance issued today is the next step in that process.
“We must balance the economic and employment interests in developing data centres with national energy, climate and community wealth building ambitions, which are vital to our future prosperity, as well as the potential impact on local communities.
“Ensuring that an Environmental Impact Assessment is always part of the application process will create a level playing field for developers and will ensure potentially significant environmental effects are considered from the outset.”
The Orkney News has several articles about AI Data Centres here is the latest:
Fiona Grahame
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