MSPs to take hyperscale datacentre evidence

Evidence on the case for and against hyperscale datacentres will be held in the Scottish Parliament this week.

Testimony will focus on the environmental impacts of the building and operation of the facilities amidst fierce debate about how Scotland should handle new applications.

Thousands of objections have been received for one bid in Dumfries and Galloway which could result in the reaction of the ‘world’s biggest’ datacentre.

National planning guidance from the Scottish Government is yet to be published and last month it was confirmed that Environmental Impact Assessments will be required during considerations for all centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts.

On Thursday, Holyrood’s Climate Action Committee will hear from campaigners who have concerns about the potential impacts of the facilities. Representatives from Action to Protect Rural Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland are expected to appear.

Evidence will also be heard from Irish organisations including Digital Infrastructure Ireland, University College Cork and Friends of the Earth Ireland.

The sessions come after committee members visited the DV1 datacentre in North Lanarkshire.

Information gathered will be shared with the Scottish Government.

Committee convener Stuart McMillan MSP said: “We want to get a complete picture of the environmental impact that hyperscale data centres might have in Scotland. Our evidence sessions, submissions made to our call for views and the context members got from visiting an existing data centre in North Lanarkshire aim to achieve that.

“The purpose of our inquiry is to understand the cumulative impact that data centres could have on Scotland's environment, which is why we want to take evidence from a broad range of experts.

“We're also keen to hear from the public and would welcome further responses to our short survey or detailed call for evidence.”