The North Lanarkshire AI Growth zone plan to power their 500MW hyperscale data centre with renewable energy – however the plans they have for energy infrastructure would need an area of 100km2 and, even then, it would only deliver half the energy the hyperscale data centre would require.
This story was published in
The Guardian: Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise
follow up articles in:
- 3 July Morning Star: The renewables case for AI data centres being built is bunk
- 7 July Energy Digital: Will CoreWeave launch its Scottish data centre on time?
- 6 July Memeburn: UK AI growth zone vs Scotland reality
The AI Growth zone at Chapelhall will have a 500MW hyperscale AI data centre which will have the power demand equivalent of half a million homes. The UK Government press release said that the site would have ‘onsite renewables’ to cover the energy requirements, the developer’s website calls it ‘private wire’ renewables. We look at what this means and whether it is possible.
The developer, Data Vita, are proposing ‘Energy Parks’ to produce this ‘private wire’ renewable energy for the hyperscale data centre. They are planning for 800MW wind, 400MW solar and 2400MWh of battery storage.
The extent of these are set to be huge – Data Vita/HFD say they will have more than 1000 acres (405 hectares) of ‘renewable generation directly connected to our data centres’. However APRS calculate that the infrastructure to deliver the energy capacity they plan to build would require nearly 100 km2 of land (10,000 hecatres), 25 times that the developer estimates [1 – see calculation below].
This 100 km2 would be made up of around 29 hectares of battery storage [2] (BESS), 720 hectares (7.2 square km2) of solar [3] and the wind generation proposed would need 320 turbines and cover an area of 88 km2 [4].
The map below shows existing energy infrastructure in the vicinity of the AI Growth zone and a square of roughly 100km2 to show the scale of the land required. We have written a report on the extent of developments we believe to be linked to the AI Growth Zone, but it excludes elements such as the ‘private wire’ renewables which are an integral part of the project.
The wind generation that is proposed (800MW) is one and a half times the capacity of Whitelees Wind Farm, the largest onshore wind farm in the UK. Whitelees covers 55km2 and has 215 turbines. The solar would require around 720 hectares, covering the area of around 900 football fields.
This is a huge amount of energy infrastructure proposed: enough to power 704,000 Scottish homes for a year [5], (considerably more than all the households in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen combined [6]).
Even so, this would still only deliver half the energy required for the data centre over the year [7].
The battery storage, despite covering an area of 34 football fields, would only power the 500MW data centre for less than five hours. The rest of the energy required will be drawn from the grid.
When the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining this data centre will require energy equivalent to 12.5% of Scotland’s maximum current energy demand [6].
Conclusion:
Even though the developers of the AI growth zone are planning renewables that would cover around 100km2, and would power 700,000 homes, this would still only create half the energy needed for the data centre over the year and woulld still need to draw on the grid when the wind isn’t blowing.
Data centres are on 24/7 and need extremely reliable power sources so renewables is not sufficient – they will need to draw huge amount of power from the grid when the wind is not blowing and the sun isn’t shining, and of course that is exactly when everyone else needs to draw from the grid.
Kat Jones, APRS director said:
“There is a wave of applications for hyperscale AI data centres coming to Scotland and they all say they’re going to use renewable energy. We have examined Data Vita/HFD’s plans to build renewables to power their 500MW data centre and found them wanting. Even if they could build the amount of energy infrastructure they say they will, it would cover a hundred kilometers squared, but only provide for half their energy requirements on average. I addition, when the wind isn’t blowing they will still need to draw off the grid.
“This is just one of the many hyperscale AI data centres planned in Scotland, all of which are claiming they will use renewables. The amount of new energy infrastructure this will need will be eye watering. And where will their energy come from when the wind isn’t blowing?”
NOTES
[1] The developer says it will have more than 1000 acres (405 hectares) of ‘renewable generation directly connected to our data centres’
[2] Reviewing some BESS sites of a probable similar size. Most discharge for two hours so a 1200MW would be 2400MWhr. (data in planning documents for each site)
Devol Moor – 700MW – 16.38 hectares
Coalburn II – 1000MW – 21.46 hectares
Braxbess – 650MW – 20.58 hectares
Devilla – 500MW – 11.7 hectares
Average for 1200MW – 29 hectares
[3] Tilbridge solar farm – the largest in the UK when it was approved in February is 500MW and covers 1,400 hectares, with plans to use approximately 900 hectares for the solar photovoltaic (PV). If 500MW is 900ha (9km2) then 400MW would be 720 ha (7.2 km2) (720ha for 400MW). However Scotland is not as sunny as Leicestershire and so it may need more area for similar output.
[3] Whitelee windfarm, the largest onshore windfarm in the UK is 539 MW, has 215 turbines and covers 55km2 so 800 MW would need 320 turbines and cover 88km2
[4] We have calculated that 800MW of wind and 400MW of solar would produce 253MW on average during the year, around half what the data centre will require.
[5] For reference, the average Scottish household used around 3150 Kwh of electricity in 2024 so these renewables could supply 704,000 homes for a year (2.2 million MWh).
[6] In 2024, the number of households in , In 2024, the number of households in City of Edinburgh was 244,791, Glasgow City was 298,251, Aberdeen City was 112,387, sum is 655,429
[7]
- Wind 800MW at Load Factor of 26.6% = 213MW (0.2662 “onshore wind” average load factor (Digest of UK Energy Statistics) from Whitelees website)
- Solar 400MW at Load Factor of 10% = 40MW (Global Solar Atlas calculations give Specific photovoltaic power output as 890 kWh/kWp which is a 10% Load factor)
Load factor is the percentage of full capacity that the installation can produce in a year. For example, the theoretical max capacity of a solar panel is very rarely achieved in Scotland due to cloud, and height of the sun, and they do not produce at night. The load factor is around 10% in Lanarkshire. Similarly for a wind turbine, it produced at a percentage of its maximum capacity over the year. This is 26.6% according to the Whitelees windfarm website – one of the closest windfarms to this area.
There are 8766 hours in the year so we would expect these renewables installed to produce 2.2million MWh (2.2 TWh) per year, around half what the data centre will require.