Scotland: Scotland continues to pursue data center developers and suggests five possible locations

The Scottish authorities are still trying to attract data center developers to their country. Twenty potential data center sites in the nation have been identified in a report created by Host in Scotland in support of the Scottish Authorities, including five additional spots not mentioned in an earlier report. Scotland has previously expressed interest in becoming a data center powerhouse. The government began a campaign in 2021 to become a green data center destination. 15 potential sites were at the time listed by Host in Scotland. The additions to the list are located in Aberdeen, Fife, Falkirk, and two additional locations in Midlothian.

It raises the question of why real estate companies are scrambling to locate pricey, underpowered, and non-green data center sites near Greater London and the M4, as the report claims that it is attempting to market locations with abundant energy, low costs, and direct access to renewables. Climate and renewable energy resources make Scotland an ideal location for data center operators, according to Henry Sutton, director of TechRE, which assisted with the research.

Even though there was a campaign for more data center construction two years ago, Scotland hasn't seen much progress. Oracle shut down the Sun Microsystems data center in Linlithgow, Scotland, in December 2021. DataVita has established a new data center in Glasgow within the office development of its parent company and will expand its Fortis data center in August 2022. Since the beginning of the campaign, no significant building projects have been announced.