A PROMINENT campaigner in the US has warned Scotland about the country’s planned AI data centre boom.
Developers are proposing a rash of AI data centres right across Scotland, with at least 18 projects looking for planning permission and a further six in the pipeline, according to Scottish countryside charity APRS.
This has prompted concerns about the impact on electricity prices, the extremely high use of water by these centres, as well as the toll on communities and the environment. In the US, those fears are no longer theoretical.
The state of Virginia, for example, now hosts the largest concentration of data centres anywhere in the world – more than 600 currently operational. The vast majority are concentrated in Northern Virginia – often called "Data Centre Alley” – with nearly 200 facilities located in Loudoun County alone.
The Sunday National has spoken with an anti-AI data centre campaigner in Virginia who has warned about what lies on the road ahead if Scotland does not take the impacts of AI data centres seriously.
“Scotland is beautiful, and if you want to keep Scotland beautiful, you should run like a plague is approaching you from this industry,” said Elena Schlossberg, the executive director for the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, one of the areas of Virginia most impacted by the industry.
“You guys are really vulnerable, and you’re vulnerable because you have water resources, you have rural land, and you have renewable energy that this industry will not only suck all of that, but then they’re going to have to rely on fossil fuel. That’s the reality.”
Schlossberg described AI data centres as “heavy industrial” – saying that it changes the topography of the land that not only absorbs water, but also cleans and filters the water that flows into drinking water supplies.
She added: “What is happening in Virginia and across the country is what will continue to happen until this industry is forced to innovate.”
The campaigner went on to say that it is true that the industry does bring some economic benefit, but added that it has its drawbacks too.
Speaking about Loudoun County in Virginia, Schlossberg said: “Their budget is now so heavy in data centres, I think their entire economic framework would collapse if the industry left. Which is also a cautionary tale. We call that: all your eggs in one basket.”
She added: “So, there can be some revenue that is realised on a local level. But once again, looking at Virginia and across the United States, our utilities are under such stress.”
Asked what she believes the UK and Scottish Governments can do to mitigate some of the negative effects she has seen in the US, Schlossberg said that energy is crucial.
“The AI data centre industry has to pay for its transmission lines. It has to pay for its substations. It has to pay for its generation,” she said.
“Are you going to allow private property to be absorbed by this infrastructure for the transmission lines? Well, I would say no. Why should any community bear the brunt or be forced to sacrifice?”
She added that the transmission lines should instead be underground.
Schlossberg went on: “I’m not anti‑data. I’m anti‑sacrificing where I live for private investment.”
