Plans unveiled for 'multi-gigawatt' data centre near Aberdeen
Charity raises concern over ‘eye-watering’ energy demands
Plans for a major new data centre have been unveiled for a near 200 acre site north of Aberdeen, with the developers behind the scheme hailing it as a “generational investment”.
The proposed “multi-gigawatt” data centre and artificial intelligence campus is earmarked for land at Blackdog north of the city. The firms behind the initiative described it as a “state-of-the-art development that can redefine the region’s economic future.”
Backed by property developers Ashfield Land and data centre specialists TechRE, the teams behind the initiative claimed it will create around 1,000 construction jobs, as well as around 100 highly skilled permanent roles, and up to 2,000 indirect jobs.
However, the charity, Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), described the energy demands of the proposed centre as “truly eye watering,” and warned that if it is approved, Scotland had “no prospect whatsoever” of meeting its climate goals.
The data centre, which the developers say would boast an initial 600MW of both renewable and grid connected power, would be sited on an area of land including a former Ministry of Defence firing range.
Ashfield secured planning permission in principle from Aberdeenshire Council in 2017 for a mixed use development including business and industrial uses, but no detailed planning permission for the data centre has been lodged to date.
Steven McGarva, managing director at Ashfield Land, said: “Blackdog is exactly the kind of generational investment the North East of Scotland needs. After a tough few years for Aberdeen and the wider region, this project would deliver billions of pounds of investment and create scores of high-value jobs, helping to deliver a just transition for the region’s oil and gas workforce.
“Given that data centres are, by their very nature, power hungry, Blackdog is also inextricably linked to Scotland’s renewable energy rollout. We’ve spent years assembling the land and securing the planning foundations to make this vision viable.
He added: “We have now partnered with TechRE, a best-in-class consultancy that has extensive experience in owning, managing and operating a portfolio of data centres. Working across the UK, Europe, USA and the Middle East, they have delivered projects on behalf of multiple hyperscalers, operators, end users and data centres funding parties.”
Both Ashfield and TechRE said they are “exploring the potential” for private-wire connections to link the data centre directly to offshore wind farms, arguing such an approach would reduce energy costs and deliver a “significant shot in the arm” for the energy supply chain.
But Kat Jones, director of APRS, said: “The oil and gas lobby must be delighted at this proposal. The developers of these hyperscale AI data centres know that they cannot run on renewables alone. Unlike the wind, they operate 24/7 and need highly reliable grid access or onsite generation.
“This proposal has truly eye watering 'multi-gigawatt' energy demands. Given that Scotland has a total energy demand at winter peak of 4 gigawatts, this is not a data centre that can be accommodated by the current grid and is highly likely to require its own gas electricity generation.”
She added: “Not only is this likely to lead to gigawatts more fossil fuel energy generation, but North Sea renewable energy is supposed to be decarbonising the UK rather than being brought, by direct wire, to a humongous AI data centre to train large language modelsI for US tech companies.”
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