Scottish data centre boom spurs backlash

{"text":[[{"start":8.4,"text":"On the outskirts of Edinburgh, a terrace of stone cottages hugs the edge of an arable field that could soon host a £1.4bn data centre."}],[{"start":18.04,"text":"The proposed Wester Hermiston facility would cover approximately 30 hectares — or 42 football pitches — of greenbelt farmland."}],[{"start":26.6,"text":"It is one of nine data centres planned in Scotland by Apatura, a developer of renewable energy and storage, as the nation’s cool climate and abundant green energy attract intense interest from those seeking to build vast industrial facilities to support the AI boom."}],[{"start":43.14,"text":"For Sarah Matthews, who lives a few hundred yards away, the benefits are loaded in favour of global technology giants at the expense of local residents."}],[{"start":54.36,"text":"“This is a socio-economic problem — these guys will not be able to sell those houses,” the mother-of-two said, referring to cottage owners. “But Apatura stands to make millions, as does any other tech company,” she said."}],[{"start":65.28,"text":"Matthews is part of a growing group of residents across Scotland’s central belt campaigning against large data centres, which they fear will squeeze communities’ access to electricity and water, spoil rural areas and boost tech giant profits with limited local job creation."}],[{"start":80.56,"text":"“I’m not against progress. I’m concerned about decisions being taken without enough transparency or evidence,” she said. “What we are asking the Scottish government to do is straightforward: pause, gather the evidence and make sure Scotland has a robust planning framework in place before approving these developments.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":98.04,"text":"The backing of the UK and Scottish governments for this new industrial opportunity has triggered a speculative gold rush as developers try to secure grid connections so they can launch operations this decade."}],[{"start":110.08,"text":"There are about 24 “hyperscale” data centre developments — those generally larger than 100MW in size — planned in Scotland, although not all are expected to get the go-ahead given the amount of energy they would consume."}],[{"start":122.68,"text":"However, environmental concerns as well as anxiety over their appearance and some scepticism about the impact of AI have sparked a national debate, from local meetings in community halls to heightened media coverage."}],[{"start":134.64,"text":"As a result, the Scottish government is rethinking its guidance to local councils considering the proposals. Officials are keen to attract investment but are wary of disgruntlement with developments that fail to deliver for local communities."}],[{"start":148.8,"text":"The Scottish National Party’s policymaking forum has urged a moratorium on new data centres."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":154.64,"text":"The 24 planned hyperscale data centre developments in Scotland would require one and a half times Scotland’s peak electricity demand, campaigners say."}],[{"start":164,"text":"The UK state-owned National Energy System Operator said there was about 60 gigawatts of data centre demand in the pipeline to connect to Britain’s high-voltage transmission network — a huge figure amounting to about 30 times the current connected capacity of existing sites."}],[{"start":180.36,"text":"While much of that may turn out to be speculative, NESO said it nonetheless needed to be managed carefully to avoid getting in the way of other industries requiring electricity connection requests such as for factories trying to electrify their processes instead of burning fossil fuels."}],[{"start":196.64,"text":"Fintan Slye, chief executive of NESO, has previously said data centre developers should target Scotland to avoid adding to grid constraints around London and make the most of its renewable energy."}],[{"start":208.32,"text":"“If in the audience you have a big data centre and you want to go to Scotland, please come talk to me, we will help you. It is actually helpful to the system to do that,” he said."}],[{"start":217.64,"text":"“There aren’t many industries out there looking for this much clean power, and if we don’t act, we risk the investment going elsewhere,” said Giles Hanglin, chief executive of Apatura."}],[{"start":218.14,"text":"But critics argue that the multibillion pounds of potential investment into Scottish data centres would benefit US tech giants with scant job creation in the post-industrial heartlands of the central belt where most proposed data centres are located."}],[{"start":218.64,"text":"In Auchtertool in Fife, developer ILI has proposed a £5bn 600MW data centre on undulating farmland above the village, a few miles from the Mossmorran site, where ExxonMobil closed its ethylene plant earlier this year with 400 job losses."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":219.14,"text":"Local campaigners say the “sheer size of the site”, which they say would require power equivalent to a fifth of Scotland’s annual electricity use, is not justifiable given estimates that it would create 120 permanent on-site jobs."}],[{"start":224.6,"text":"“If it were going to generate jobs like Mossmorran, we might struggle to argue against it,” said Andrea Cail, chair of the community council. “It won’t work — it’s just the wrong site.”"}],[{"start":235.12,"text":"ILI said the site’s broader economic impact, estimated at around £67mn a year, was a “massive opportunity”. Comparing the site’s electricity usage to Scotland’s overall demand fails to consider that the nation in 2024 produced twice as much electricity as it consumed, with 39 per cent of wind power curtailed last year."}],[{"start":256.28,"text":"The location had been “carefully considered” on land allocated for “employment” near Mossmorran, it added."}],[{"start":263,"text":"The developers of the proposed multi-gigawatt Blackdog data centre near Aberdeen are pitching the north-east’s proximity to the planned 35GW of potential capacity from offshore wind farms in Scotland — though other industry executives argue that data centres should be built closer to the main sources of demand in the south-east for speedier delivery of data."}],[{"start":283.84,"text":"Last month, John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister, said he would consider updating national planning guidance “to balance the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centres with national energy and climate goals”."}],[{"start":296.16,"text":"Sandy Begbie, chief executive of industry body Scottish Financial Enterprise, said the government’s approach posed the first major test for the new government and its economy secretary, Stephen Flynn, “to show they are really serious about economic growth”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":310.96,"text":"Larbert near Falkirk, a post-industrial town hit hard by regional job losses, is the site of another Apatura development, a £2.3bn 300MW data centre proposed in a business park next to a care home, which plans to be operational in 2028."}],[{"start":328.28,"text":"Using 200 diesel generators as backup power, the large diesel storage under the site poses an explosion risk and its routine generator testing would pollute the neighbourhood, including central Scotland’s largest hospital, said local resident Michael Maciocia, a retired Intel employee."}],[{"start":345.68,"text":"Apatura said the environmental impact of standby generation, including routine testing of the generators, had been assessed as part of the planning application and was subject to review by the local council."}],[{"start":356.72,"text":"In letters to the local community, Apatura has pledged that the Larbert facility would generate almost £1bn of investment into Scotland, creating 500 local jobs with average salaries of £56,000 a year, and said it takes “genuine questions” from residents “seriously”."}],[{"start":373.96,"text":"“This is marketing bullshit with a capital B,” said Maciocia. “We may end up with a building, but the tech is all from the US, none of it manufactured here.”"}],[{"start":383.92,"text":"Marlyn Bingham, whose family has lived across the road from the Larbert site for a century, remains worried: “I go to bed thinking about it and wake up thinking about it.”"}],[{"start":397,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785228837_8364.mp3"}