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John Swinney is being challenged to bring in an immediate moratorium on so-called hyperscale data centres amid concerns from campaigners that the energy requirements for such projects could “blow any chance” of Scotland meeting climate targets.

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) has written to the First Minister setting out “concerns” about the current “corporate pressure for the construction of new hyperscale data centres in Scotland”.

In the letter, SCCS chairman Mike Robinson warns each data centre could require “in excess” of 200MW (megawatts) of electricity to operate.

One of the largest planned new sites, proposed to be built in Irvine, North Ayrshire, would require 1,000MW with Mr Robinson saying this would be “the equivalent of 25% of Scotland’s peak electricity demand”.

He described the growth in planned data centres which are used to enable advances in AI and cloud computing as being “an unexpected development that has the potential to blow any chance of meeting our future carbon budgets”.

With data centres requiring more than 4,500MW of electricity currently in the planning process, Mr Robinson goes on to state that “alarmingly” the Scottish Government’s draft climate change plan “does not factor in the vast energy demands of the data centres currently progressing through the planning process and contains no information on how the impact of new hyperscale data centres will be managed and mitigated”.

Mr Swinney is warned that the “enormous additional pressure on the grid” could lead to “significant increases” in electricity bills for Scots and could potentially “result in blackouts”.

While “green data centres” are included in Scotland’s national planning framework 4 the latest planning guidelines campaigners claim that “crucially the meaning of ‘green’ appears not to be assessed in any way”, with many developments not required to produce environmental impact assessments.

The letter which has also been sent to the leaders of the Tories, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens goes on to call for an “immediate moratorium on hyperscale data centres in Scotland”.

It says this needs to happen while the Government carries out work to analyse the impact such sites could have on Scotland’s power grid and 2045 net zero plans.

Campaigners also insist there is a need for ministers to “stringently define what constitutes a ‘green data centre’” and for environmental impact assessments to be made mandatory for all such proposed developments.

Dr Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland and a member of SCCS, said: “Hyperscale AI data centres are the gravest threat imaginable to Scotland’s climate ambitions, to our countryside and to energy bills.

“They bring with them a tiny number of jobs and the whole country risks paying the price for big tech’s latest bubble.

“In America, this threat has united a broad coalition, from rural conservatives worried about the impact on their local communities to environmental activists concerned about the climate impacts. And all sides know how unpopular spikes in energy costs would be.

“I hope all parties at Holyrood will take a closer look and support an urgent moratorium on these disastrous projects.”

Becky Kenton-Lake, coalition manager at SCCS, said: “We have spent years pressing ministers to shift to a fairer, cheaper and cleaner energy system, and some progress has been made. We cannot let that be reversed.

“While AI has the potential to bring societal benefits, these hyperscale data centres, if approved, would collectively require more than Scotland’s total current electricity usage.

“Politicians across all parties should back our calls for a moratorium to avoid blowing any hopes of meeting our climate targets out of the water.”

The Scottish Government said it is up to the planning authority to consider individual applications.

A spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate for Scottish ministers to comment on any live or future application for proposed development.

“The Scottish Government’s green data centres vision and action plan aims to stimulate commercial investment in a diverse portfolio of data centres.

“National Planning Framework 4 designates major scale applications for green data centres as ‘national developments’, establishing the principle of development.

“Planning authorities have a responsibility to consider the environmental implications of all developments which require planning permission, and all proposed developments are considered on their own merits.

“In cases where a proposal is likely to have a significant environmental effect, these powers are further supplemented by the procedures set out in environmental impact assessment legislation.

“The Scottish Government co-commissioned the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain which will assess the optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure required to meet future energy demand, including from data centres, with the clean, affordable and secure supply that we need.”