Edinburgh march protests large-scale AI data centres
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Thousands of people marched down Edinburgh's Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament to protest against the building of large-scale AI data centres, part of a wave of protests across Europe. Campaigners cited noise, construction disruption, electricity demand and environmental impact, pointing to a planned 1,000MW site at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway, compared with the roughly 12MW DataVita site in Airdrie, currently thought to be Scotland's largest. The Scottish government said it will publish new planning guidance on data centres before the end of the year and is developing a strategic approach to maximising the public benefit from data centres in Scotland. Planning authorities are now required to notify ministers of new data centre applications, and a new planning direction mandates an Environmental Impact Assessment for all new data centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts.
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- Hacker News · AIThousands protest in Edinburgh against AI data centres as Scotland prepares new planning guidance
Thousands of people marched down Edinburgh's Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament to protest against large-scale AI data centres, part of a wave of protests across Europe. Campaigners cited noise, construction disruption, electricity demand and environmental impact, including plans for a site at Chapelcross, Dumfries and Galloway, that would have a capacity of 1,000MW, against the roughly 12MW of DataVita's Airdrie site, currently thought to be Scotland's largest. The Scottish government said it will publish new planning guidance on data centres before the end of the year and now requires ministers to be notified of new applications, with an Environmental Impact Assessment mandated for sites exceeding 50 megawatts.
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