The Scottish Parliament has opened an inquiry into hyperscale data centres in the country, as the pipeline of proposed developments continues to grow.

Scotland has traditionally had a relatively small data centre market, with UK Government estimates putting its existing colocation IT capacity at just 30MW in autumn 2024. However, that’s potentially about to change in a big way.

According to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), close to 30 data centre projects are now seeking around 9.7GW of electricity grid connections across Scotland.

Not all of those projects are likely to be built, but the scale of the proposed development has raised questions about whether Scotland’s electricity system can accommodate the additional demand.

The Scottish Parliament’s new inquiry will examine those questions, alongside the environmental impact of major data centre developments and the economic benefits they could deliver.

It brings together Holyrood’s Climate Action Committee, which has launched a formal inquiry into the environmental effects of hyperscale data centres, and the Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee, which is gathering evidence to inform potential further work.

The scope extends beyond conventional environmental concerns. MSPs want to understand whether Scotland’s electricity network can accommodate substantial new demand, whether data centres could make use of curtailed renewable electricity and how much economic benefit would remain in the country.

How much of Scotland’s 9.7GW pipeline will actually be built?

The challenge for Scotland is establishing how much of that proposed capacity will ever be built. While many of the projects seeking grid connections could prove speculative, the country’s electricity system still needs to prepare for potentially substantial new demand.

Some projects have connection dates extending into the late 2030s, but during an evidence session last month, Matt Magill, Director of Engineering and Customer Solutions at the National Energy System Operator (NESO), told MSPs that reforms to the connections process could remove speculative applications from the queue.

That could give Holyrood a clearer picture of how much additional electricity demand Scotland will actually need to accommodate. For now, however, the uncertainty remains.

Transmission constraints mean wind farms can be paid to reduce output when the network can’t transport all the electricity being produced. Some have trumpeted the potential of data centres absorbing some of that surplus. 

However, the benefits would depend on where facilities are built, their actual electricity consumption and whether their demand could respond to changing grid conditions. After all, on a day of lower wind generation, for example, can the wider grid absorb a data centre’s power needs? 

That’s a question the Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee is looking to answer in its inquiry, alongside the employment, investment, supply-chain opportunities and tax revenues that hyperscale developments could bring to Scotland. 

Meanwhile, the Climate Action Committee is examining water consumption, biodiversity, air quality, backup generation, emissions and opportunities to reuse waste heat.

Scotland tightens scrutiny of data centre development

It should come as no surprise that Holyrood is taking a more active approach towards data centre development in Scotland. The scale of projects now being proposed is unlike anything the country has seen before, and the Scottish Government has already taken steps to ensure that growth doesn’t come at the expense of the environment or local communities.

In September, the Scottish Government made Environmental Impact Assessments mandatory for new data centre proposals exceeding 50MW, while MSPs also backed a motion calling for decisions on hyperscale data centre applications to be held back until national planning and spatial guidance has been completed.

That hasn’t stopped projects from entering the planning system, however. Earlier this month, CX Tech submitted plans for a massive 1GW data centre campus at Chapelcross in southern Scotland.

For now, the Scottish Parliament is looking to examine the wider implications of accommodating hyperscale facilities – and to do that it has sent out a call for evidence, which closes on November 15, 2026.