Today, 19 March, there were two questions in the Scottish Parliament on hyperscale data centres and answered by Gillian martin, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy.
Portfolio: Climate Action and Energy, and Transport
3. Sarah Boyack (S6O-05674)
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the regulatory framework currently in place to monitor the development and operation of data centres in Scotland, in relation to ensuring that their energy use, water consumption and any environmental impacts are being effectively controlled.
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the regulatory framework currently in place to monitor the development and operation of data centres in Scotland, in relation to ensuring that their energy use, water consumption and any environmental impacts are being effectively controlled. (S6O-05674)
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (Gillian Martin)
Scotland benefits from a robust, although complex, regulatory and policy landscape that applies to data centre development. Under national planning framework 4, the planning authority must consider the potential environmental impacts of any planning application.
Beyond that, when a site is under development and in operation, a number of environmental regulations might apply that relate to on-site combustion plant, air emissions, energy use and storage, water abstraction and discharge, use of fluorinated gas—F-gas—waste management and fuel and chemical storage. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is engaged in that framework and is working with UK regulators where such regulation is reserved.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland has warned that, although the draft climate change plan outlines a range of policies that are aimed at increasing energy generation from renewables, it does not discuss the potential huge energy demand coming from data centres that planning authorities are now having to consider. In Edinburgh, for example, a temporary moratorium on data centres has been agreed and will be in place until the true level of energy and water consumption required is actually understood.
To follow on from the initial advice that has been given, will the cabinet secretary outline what advice and monitoring the Scottish Government will provide? Can lessons be learned from Dublin and Amsterdam about tightening controls on large data centres, and also from Odense, where 100,000 homes are now being heated by a data centre?
I really like hearing examples of planning decisions that lead to co-location. Data centres need cooling and our homes and public buildings need heating, so that is an absolute no-brainer for me.
Those are planning decisions and we are having a lot of discussion with our colleagues at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities about how we can co-locate any developments that might have waste heat associated with them. A great deal of work will be done on heat networks in the next Parliament.
The cabinet secretary has outlined some of the safeguards in the current regulatory framework. A massive data centre proposed in Edinburgh would be similar in size to—and occupy as much land as—the entire ground at Murrayfield stadium. Will the Scottish Government make representations to ensure that a full environmental impact assessment is carried out? That is what communities are calling for, considering the planned diesel backup generators, the impact on air quality and the location of the site on greenbelt land within the Gogar special landscape area.
Sue Webber will know that I cannot comment on planning applications. However, it is important to note that, if a site does require an environmental impact assessment, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be consulted at the planning stage on any potential environmental impacts.
I go back to what I said in my earlier answer to Sarah Boyack, which is that all local authorities should look at such proposals and work out what they can co-locate in order to maximise the possible benefits of data centres.
8. Foysol Choudhury (S6O-05679)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to formally define “green” to ensure alignment with net zero targets in its designation of data centres as a “national priority”.
8. Foysol Choudhury (Lothian) (Ind)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to formally define “green” to ensure alignment with net zero targets in its designation of data centres as a “national priority”. (S6O-05679)
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (Gillian Martin)
The Scottish Government recognises that data centres are vital to the delivery of our digital ambitions and our transition to a net zero economy. Their designation as a national development in national planning framework 4, which was approved by the Parliament, highlights their importance and the expectation that future projects will align with Scotland’s climate commitments. When new development proposals come forward, it is for the planning authority to interpret and apply NPF4 according to the circumstances of each case, considering factors such as renewable energy use, energy efficient technologies, reduced water consumption, and opportunities to reuse excess heat.
What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the potential impact of hyperscale data centres on Scotland’s statutory climate targets and consumer energy bills? Will it consider an immediate moratorium on such projects until a clear definition of green data centres is established?
As Mr Choudhury will know, work is already under way through the strategic spatial energy plan—the SSEP—which the four nations are involved in, as well as the connections accelerator programme, which will help to inform how Scotland manages future energy demand from data centres and other sources in a way that supports our grid resilience and our net zero pathway. The SSEP’s work was jointly commissioned by the United Kingdom, Scottish and Welsh Governments. It will assess the optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure that are required across a range of all possible future scenarios to meet future energy demand.