THE SNP are set to back calls for a temporary ban on AI data centre developments, The National can reveal.
It comes after months of community protest against proposed sites across the country, as well as pushback from several MSPs from various parties.
The SNP will now join the Scottish Greens in calling for a Scottish Government-led moratorium on AI data centre developments after a vote of the party’s National Council, a key decision-making body in the party's organisation.
The two parties hold a clear majority in Holyrood, so if a moratorium is formally proposed by either party it would likely pass, especially as figures from Labour, the LibDems, Conservatives and Reform UK have all raised concerns about data centre projects in their areas. However, it could be challenged on a point of law from the developers.
A party spokesperson said: "AI data centres are evolving at pace, and the SNP fully recognises the concerns about the environmental impact and the impact on energy resources of hyperscale Data Centres.
"The Scottish Government is currently reviewing what action can be taken to help balance the rapid expansion of such centres with our national energy and climate goals - including a potential pause on applications."
Writing in the Greenock Telegraph, Stuart McMillan MSP also said that he welcomes "the decision taken at the SNP's National Council... to implement a moratorium on data centre projects.
The support for a ban comes after two councils, Edinburgh and East Ayrshire, made calls for the Scottish Government to implement a moratorium.
There have been growing concerns from local communities to the planned developments due to the potential scale of energy, water and land consumption.
While the developers have said measures will be taken to reduce these factors, such as the construction of on-site renewable energy sources, findings from environmental organisation Action to Protect Rural Scotland and The Guardian newspaper have revealed that the likelihood that the projects can meet their renewable goals is next to none due to difficulties in connecting to the UK electricity grid.
There is currently up to a 10-year wait for large developments to connect to the grid. To avoid this, data centre developers have suggested they will use on-site generation to power the huge computing servers.
However, there are currently virtually no private renewable projects being developed by data centre firms in Scotland, and according to an investigation from APRS and The Guardian, the size of development required to produce even half of the 1GW of renewable energy demanded from the proposed DataVita site in North Lanarkshire could be as large as 100 square kilometres, or roughly the size of Paris.
Whitlee, the UK’s largest onshore windfarm, occupies around 55 square kilometers. Across Scotland total energy demand from AI data centres could be as high as 6.4GW, more than doubling Scotland’s peak energy usage of just over 4GW.
Commenting on the decision, Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said it was a positive step by the party, but must now be acted upon through the Scottish Government.
He said: “This is an important step by the SNP’s National Council, and I hope the Scottish Government now acts on it.
“I know there are SNP MSPs who share our concerns about the Big Tech land grab we are seeing and who have backed our calls since we first raised this issue in Parliament.
“Scotland is facing a wave of hyperscale data centre applications that could have profound consequences for our energy system, our environment and our communities.
“The Scottish Government’s tone is beginning to shift. I hope that these reports will encourage them to go further and faster in putting a stop to the speculative applications that we are seeing.
“This should not be a party-political issue. I hope others across our Parliament will join this call until we see meaningful action.
“It is time to pause hyperscale data centre applications until councils have clear guidance, communities have certainty, and Scotland has a coherent national strategy to deal with them instead of a corporate free-for-all.”
