DataVita Drops Private-Wire Renewables Plan for Lanarkshire AI Datacentre

The Scottish company had said wind, solar and battery storage would feed the datacentres at Chapelhall, near Airdrie, through private wire connections. The Guardian questioned that pledge in an investigation. DataVita first replied that the arrangement was "subject to final commercial agreements, planning, grid and consenting processes". It has since revised the plan, saying solar and wind farms "could connect in the future".

The change matters beyond one village. The Lanarkshire scheme is meant to anchor an AI growth zone, part of Britain's plan to build large datacentres in designated areas with incentives such as faster planning approval and possibly cheaper energy. DataVita had said the project would bring 3,400 jobs and a 500MW datacentre to the area. According to the Guardian, the company still holds £202m of public money in the form of guarantees from Britain's National Wealth Fund.

The company's earlier announcement said: "More than 1GW of renewable energy capacity, including wind, solar, and battery storage, will be delivered through private wire connections directly linked to the datacentres." That output is roughly what a small nuclear reactor or Britain's largest wind farm produces.

DataVita said it had not misrepresented its renewable plans. "Our commitment to renewable energy is unchanged," a spokesperson said, adding: "Our datacentres are being designed to be grid served … Our grid supply will be through a renewable power purchase agreement." The company said the power it takes from the grid will be largely renewable.

Under a power purchase agreement, a buyer contracts for renewable electricity that is generated elsewhere and fed into the grid. The datacentres themselves would run on whatever mix the grid carries at any moment. A private wire link would instead tie the campus physically to its own wind, solar and battery assets.

The growth zone strategy was drawn up under former prime minister Keir Starmer. It has come under growing scrutiny as several of the projects announced under it have struggled to show where their power will come from, or how they will pay for it. Two other key UK AI investments are on shaky ground over their ability to power themselves or meet the cost of doing so, according to the Guardian.

AI datacentres need large amounts of power around the clock. British electricity prices are higher than in most of Europe, and new projects can wait years for a grid connection.

Kat Jones, director of the Edinburgh-based charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland, said the shift was "emblematic of the hyperbolic claims being made by datacentre developers in Scotland". "Hyperscale AI datacentres simply cannot run on renewable power alone, they absolutely need a highly reliable source of grid power," she said. "It is not surprising that the goalposts have now changed."

DataVita still proposes to build a wind and solar park in North Lanarkshire, and says it could later connect to the datacentres. It has not given a timetable for that link, or for the grid connection the campus will now depend on.