An analysis of the diesel emissions from the Larbert data centre under normal testing by journalist Petra Matijevic shows that it would emit more air pollution than the Shell liquefied gas plant in Fife.
This analysis was published in The National today (18/6/2026)
- The National: AI data centre would be a ‘top 10 polluter’ by Petra Matijevic
- Data centre dynamics Residents rally against “monster” 300MW AI data center planned in Scotland
- Deadline News. Scottish charity warned Larbert data cebtre would be “major polluter”
- The Independent: ‘Data centre would release noxious exhaust chemicals’
- Falkirk Herald – front page: Residents-protest-against-planned-ai-data-centre-in-larbert
Petra’s analysis is laid out in full below the quotes.
It was possible to do this analysis because the Larbert hyperscale AI data centre has been required to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and part of this assessment is an Air Quality Assessment. Larbert is the first of the AI data centres coming through planning to have been required to do an EIA so it is very informative for the other developments, including Fife, which have not been required.
Locals are unsurprisingly extremely concerned at this news:
Hazel McQueen, who lives right next to the proposed data centre, said:
“The fact that these generators will be tested monthly is so concerning. This is a huge industrial development being proposed far too close to existing homes. We are all being asked to just accept potential impacts from noise, emissions and air quality without knowing what the long term effects could be.
“As far as I’m concerned this isn’t just about AI data Centers and planning reports, it’s really about my family and their future. My grandchildren will suffer if these AI Data centers are as bad as they appear to be.
“I want to be able to look my grandchildren in the eye and say that when a major industrial development was proposed so close to people’s homes. I did not simply stand by and say nothing. Whether its approved or not, I want to know that I raised my concerns and did everything I could to protect the area where I live.”
Tasha Marsden, who has grandparents living close to the site, said:
“I have elderly family in Larbert and I am really concerned about the impacts the pollution from this data centre would have on them.
“Forth Valley Hospital is just across the roundabout and adjacent to the site is a care home which houses vulnerable residents. Sick and older people live in the closest proximity to this site, and their health will be impacted the most if it goes ahead. That brings us to the question – if AI is supposed to propel us forwards, then why is the supporting infrastructure forcing local residents to live in harmful conditions from the past?
“With such severe environmental, ecological and social impacts to the local area, it’s difficult to comprehend why this site was selected. More than 12,000 people will be directly impacted and only a handful were aware of the plans until they hit the headlines this week. With 22 hyperscale AI data centres planned across Scotland, residents and grassroots campaigners are playing whack-a-mole with the plans of well funded companies, whose CEOs will not be forced to live beside the negative impacts.
“At present, communities across Scotland are holding back the tide alone, it’s time for MSPs to step in and advocate for the communities that they were just elected to represent.”
Michael Maciocia, a retired Intel employee from Larbert said:
“I was at the developer’s consultation about the proposed data centre last year. The material Apatura was showing residents had only 13 diesel generators, and now they plan to have 200.
No-one that I have spoken to, including people within 50 metres of the development, were consulted or informed of air quality.”
Kat Jones, Director of APRS said:
“It is incredible that even the documents from the developer’s own consultants show the huge amounts of pollution that will be produced by the diesel backup generators even under the case of routine testing. When you have 200 industrial-size diesel generators, each with the ability to power 3200 homes, then even with routine testing they are going to breach safe air pollution limits. And when there is a power interruption and the generators of on emergency power it will be completely off the charts.
“The Scottish Government cannot allow these hyperscale AI data centres to be permitted for so many reasons, but surely the most important and critical is people’s health. We are calling on them to put in place an immediate moratorium which they investigate the impacts of hyperscale AI data centres on Scotland’s communities, electricity grid and environment.”
The calculations:
Petra crunched the numbers in the EIA report filed by the developers of the site on air quality. The data centre developer’s consultants modelled the effects of the 200 backup generators on the local air quality. Petra specifically looked at the generator specifications and the routine testing schedule described in the documents.
Based on these, Petra calculated that the generators would release a staggering 288 tonnes of NOx (nitrogen oxide) gases a year just from routine testing operations, which would make the development a large-scale industrial polluter and place it firmly above SEPA’s reporting threshold of 100 tonnes for yearly exhaust gas releases.
Petra continues: “It would make the “green” data centre one of Scotland’s top ten emitters of this pollutant. That’s more NOx than released by Shell’s natural gas liquids plant in Mossmorran or the gas-fired Peterhead power station.
“I also calculated that to fulfil the testing schedule, any three of the generators would be operational for their 1- and 4-hour staggered scheduled testing for a total 8.5 hours every working day, releasing more than a tonne of NOx a day.”
Despite this, the local residents and nearby care facilities, which include the Forth Valley hospital and Glenbervie Kindergarten (both just 350 metres from the site) and Glenbervie care home (directly adjacent to the site), would not experience more than just occasional moderate pollution levels, according to the developer’s document.
However, in the unlikely event of a power outage when 180 generators would switch on, all of the hyperscale data centre’s neighbours could be exposed to high levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, ranging from 11 to 44 times the healthy hourly limit of 200 micrograms per cubic metre of air in the worst case scenario. At these concentrations, the pollution would be visible as a reddish haze and could irritate or injure airways, especially in sensitive populations like the elderly and children.
On the methodology:
The exact generators that will be used are unknown as the final data centre operator is not yet known, but the environmental impact assessment report used model KD-3750-E generators produced by a US-based company Rehlko as a likely product. These 3.2 MW generators each emit 7.9 grams of nitrous oxide gases every second of operating at half of their full capacity and 15.3 grams per second at full power, according to the filed documents.
The routine testing schedule described is:
“Monthly Testing: A basic operational test at 50% load for one hour, carried out once per month, with three generators (one generator per data hall) operated at a time;
Quarterly Testing: A load bank test at 100% load for four hours, carried out once per quarter, with three generators (one generator per data hall) operated at a time; and
Annual Testing: A full diagnostic test at 100% load for four hours, carried out once per year, with three generators (one generator per data hall) operated at a time.”
Based on this, each of the 200 generators would be operating 12 hours a year at 50% and 20 hours a year at 100% power, making the up the total emission numbers above.
The generator flue parameters – annex from the Air Quality Assessment report
Extract from the report showing the consequences when the generators are working on an emergency scenario:
