JOHN Swinney has refused to hit pause on AI data centre applications after the Greens raised fears of a "free-for-all" flurry of proposals in Scotland.
At First Minister's Questions, Greens co-leader Ross Greer called on the First Minister to introduce a moratorium on "hyperscale" data centres in Scotland before parliament breaks for the summer.
He highlighted if the 24 proposals announced so far are all approved, they'll need up to 6000MW of electricity which more than 1.5 times Scotland's current peak demand.
He 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.
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But Swinney refused to make any commitment to a pause or bringing in a national strategy.
It comes after The National revealed routine backup power tests could make a “green” AI data centre in Larbert one of Scotland’s top 10 polluters.
Greer said: “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."
Swinney said in defining green data centres it is for councils to interpret and apply national planning policy and in each case they should consider renewable energy use and use of energy efficient technologies.
Greer then pressed Swinney on whether he would call a mortarium on all data centre applications over 50MW until a national strategy can be put in place.
"Three London boroughs have reportedly put a freeze on house-building because of the impact of data centres on the grid," he said.
"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."
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Swinney said Greer had made a "reasonable point" but added: "What often is argued for in parliament is for local decision making within a policy framework set by government. Mr Greer is asking me to do something much more specific and much more instructive and determinative than that."
Swinney said parliament would need to have an open discussion about making any changes to national planning policy.
The planned 300MW data centre in Larbert would be equipped with 200 generators to ensure uninterrupted operation during a power outage. These would not run for “any purpose other than providing emergency back-up power” and during routine testing.
But the testing alone would release a staggering 288 tonnes of nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide gases every year, according to the developer’s own documents.
This would rank the development, “designed as a green data centre” by Apatura, among the top 10 emitters of exhaust fumes in Scotland, ahead of Shell’s natural gas liquids plant in Mossmorran and the gas-fired Peterhead power station.
The high number of generators also means that to complete scheduled maintenance, three generators at a time would be operating for a total of 8.5 hours each working day, resulting in more than one tonne of exhaust emissions daily.
In the worst-case scenario, the developer’s air quality modelling predicts nearby homes and facilities could be exposed to “very high” nitrogen dioxide levels of up to 8800 micrograms per cubic metre, exceeding the healthy hourly limit of 200 micrograms per cubic metre 44 times.
The figures were included in the environmental impact assessment required as part of the planning application.
Kat Jones from Action to Protect Rural Scotland pointed out that many other AI data centre proposals, including the 600 MW in Auchtertool, don’t require an EIA, meaning planning applications could proceed without known impacts on air quality.
Greer also raised the proposal at Auchertool was not subject to an impact assessment.
"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," he said.
After FMQs, Jones added: “It’s phenomenal to see concern about this issue now taking centre stage at Holyrood. Planning permission simply must not be given for all these hyperscale data centres without taking account of the consequences for the communities who would be living alongside them.
"This free-for-all cannot continue. We urgently need a moratorium on applications to give Ministers enough time to assess the climate and other environmental implications of this looming wave of applications.”
