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BBC Scotland, Glasgow & West today has:
Could a huge data centre revitalise Ayrshire – or ruin it? Supporters talk of it revitalising the region, bringing new jobs and investment that would be ploughed back into the community. But the plans have met strong opposition from locals concerned about the impact on the wider area. Some of those opposed have contacted BBC Your Voice, and say the firm has not provided concrete details about a building that would dominate Hurlford
and critically:
Lisa Beacham became aware of the proposal – which ILI stress is still at a very early stage – shortly after the initial announcement. A student from Hurlford, she then went down a rabbit hole looking at the amount of water that would be needed for coolant, the process which stops the computer chips there from overheating.
“The site proposal is that it would be powered at 540MW, which would require millions of litres of water a day,” she said.
“Water is a global commodity and we are currently facing global water bankruptcy, external, according to the UN. Yet we’ll have a site that is using up a huge amount, and due to residue [from the centre] the water used there cannot easily be recirculated.”
Last year the BBC told of people who lived near a data centre in Georgia in the USA who were struggling with an excessive build-up of sediment in water supplies.
While I agree that ILI should be providing an explanation of how their water demands can be met without damaging the supply to local homes, East Ayrshire, indeed Scotland, is not Georgia when it comes to water or for that matter electricity, the other concern which is often expressed.
The Sunday Mail was similarly concerned in December 2025:
Massive new data centres planned in Scotland to power the AI revolution would use up to three quarters of the country’s total electricity demand [sic], a new study has claimed. Research firm Foxglove, which campaigns for fair tech, found the “staggering” amount of power as well as water required by data centres “carries serious environmental risk” for Scotland. Its study this month found 11 “hyperscale” data centres currently in the planning system could use up an astonishing 3000 megawatts of electricity supply once all operational.
“And they produce a huge amount of heat. Some of these data centres may use water cooling systems for their computing equipment which can have a very big demand on the local water environment.”
To begin:
Would use up to three quarters of the country’s total electricity demand [sic]
Surely you use up supply not demand?
How is our supply?
So, in 2024, Scotland consumed 21.7 TWh but generated 51.8 TWh of supply making for a 30TWh surplus which was just transferred to England.
Now, if the SM is correct and these new AI data centres would need three quarters of our demand, that’d be about 15TWh from the 30TWh over-production which an independent Scotland could just sell to the companies owning them and then sell the rest to rUK. Of course, the huffy rUK, after independence, might just refuse to buy it and insist on paying more to the French whom they, especially the English, love so much.
Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:
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Finally the demand on the local water environment? Already answered here in October 2025:
Chill – Scottish data centres powering AI only require 0.00004% of Scotland’s 745 trillion litres of water
BBC Scotland had the above headline and:
Data centres powering artificial intelligence (AI) in Scotland are using enough tap water to fill 27 million half-litre bottles a year, according to data obtained by BBC News.
AI systems such as the large language models (LLMs) that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini require warehouses full of specialist computers.
The equipment is power-hungry, consuming large amounts of energy, but they also use tonnes of water in their cooling systems to stop the servers overheating.
Freedom of Information data shows the volume of tap water used by Scotland’s data centres has quadrupled since 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77zxx43x4vo
OK, 27 million half -litre bottles is 13.5 million litre bottles.
Where on earth will we get that? We’ll, in Scotland from just three of us?
Scotland has 5.5 million litres of water per person, 40 times that in England
Scotland’s Loch Ness alone contains 7,452 million cubic meters [745 million litres] of water, which is more than the combined volume of all lakes and reservoirs in England and Wales.
https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/water/scotland-s-freshwater/ https://www.nature.scot/landscapes-and-habitats/habitat-types/lochs-rivers-and-wetlands/freshwater-lochs
England and Wales, by contrast, have far fewer natural lakes, with reservoirs like Rutland Water (12.5 km²) and Kielder Reservoir being among the largest, but their total volume is significantly less than Scotland’s.
http://www.fao.org/3/T0798E16.htm
Scotland’s water reserves are estimated at 30 trillion litres [5.5 million litres per person], compared to England’s 134,000 liters per person, highlighting a vast disparity due to Scotland’s smaller population (around 5.5 million) and abundant resources compared to England’s larger population (around 56 million). Scotland is often cited as having around 90% of the UK’s freshwater resources, largely due to its extensive loch system and higher rainfall (averaging 1,500–3,000 mm annually compared to England’s lower averages, particularly in the south).
https://www.studycountry.com/wiki/does-scotland-have-more-fresh-water-than-england https://www.thenational.scot/news/19515230.big-corporations-could-make-scotlands-water-next-oil/
So, the data centres need 13.5 million litres. Three of us, 16.5 million litres, should do that. That is only 0.00004% of the 30 trillion available.
Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:
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Talking-up Scotland 