Scotland in renewed push to attract more hyperscale and colocation datacentre development

The promotion of Scotland as a viable different location for hyperscale and colocation datacentre operators to web site their services is continuous apace, with the publication of a report flagging 20 areas north of the border that may be appropriate for large-scale server farm developments.

The report, compiled by Host in Scotland, is in assist of a multi-year effort by the Scottish authorities to attract more datacentre funding into the nation, as energy provide points and rising land costs make it more durable for operators to supply appropriate websites across the M4 hall.

“This heady mix of power price increases, lack of power security, unavailability of powered sites, and unprecedented hot weather combined with a requirement for direct feeds from renewable power plants has created a perfect storm for Scottish sites to provide 100% renewably powered datacentres,” the report acknowledged.

“Using this report to market sites with abundant energy, low-cost and direct access to renewables will put into question why real estate teams are straining to find expensive, under-powered and non-green datacentres sites around Greater London and the M4.”

The report itself follows on from an earlier 2021 publication that recognized 15 potential new websites, including an additional 5 to the tally and bringing the whole to 20. These new websites are situated in Aberdeen, Fife and Falkirk, whereas the remaining two might be discovered in Midlothian.

Host in Scotland was assisted with its web site search and choice work by connectivity consultancy Farrpoint and datacentre development advisory agency TechRE.

FarrPoint CEO Andrew Muir mentioned the up to date report is probably going to be of nice curiosity to present datacentre operators in Scotland, in addition to potential new entrants to the market.

“The methodology and approach [in the report] are consistent with how the datacentre industry identifies sites for further detailed due diligence, so the report provides a reliable and useful starting point and guide to investigating data centre opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Henry Sutton, director at TechRE, mentioned Scotland’s local weather and renewable vitality functionality mark it out as a super location for datacentre operators.

“Our new report comes at an opportune time for the country, as datacentres increasingly seek out access to large sources of sustainable energy whilst plans for renewable projects, particularly major windfarms off the coast of Scotland come to fruition,” mentioned Sutton.

As beforehand talked about, the Scottish authorities has been actively selling the nation as an appropriate location to web site renewably powered datacentres as technique of producing new sources of financial development. 

The endeavour started in March 2021 with the publication of the Green datacentres and digital connectivity: imaginative and prescient and motion plan for Scotland technique doc, which positioned Scotland as a “leading zero-carbon, cost-competitive, green data-hosting location”.

The nation’s innovation minister, Richard Lochhead, mentioned the environmental footprint of datacentres is changing into an rising concern all over the world, which is why it is sensible for operators to take into account websites the place inexperienced vitality is in abundance.

“The Scottish government’s Green datacentres and digital connectivity: vision and action plan for Scotland seeks to improve our global competitiveness, digital resilience and investor attractiveness around the opportunity for sustainable, green datacentres and international digital connectivity, building Scotland’s profile as a leading zero-carbon, cost competitive green data hosting location and enabling progress towards net-zero ambitions,” mentioned Lochhead.

“We are working intently with Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Futures Trust, different public sector companions and trade to develop and strengthen Scotland’s datacentre and worldwide subsea fibre industries, together with their provide chains.

“Ensuring that Scotland can realise the full economic benefits of the digital and data economy is fundamental to the Scottish gvernment’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation. As a key economic enabler, digital infrastructure is a critical part of our plans for a fair, green and growing economy,” he added.