Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise

Suspicions grow in Lanarkshire that local people have been misled on supposed benefits of the huge development Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise What are Britain’s AI growth zones and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’? The promise was that a Scottish community would be transformed by massive investment and empowered to chase “the jobs of the future”. Instead, local people in Lanarkshire fear they may have to sell their properties and lose green belt land because of the errors of a badly planned AI datacentre complex, even as those jobs and investments never arrive. Late last year, representatives of Oakes Energy Services began to knock on doors in Newarthill, a village east of Glasgow. In letters reviewed by the Guardian, they invited residents to individual meetings. They told them about plans for a solar farm, say local people, and made offers: free solar panels, tree planting, or even cash for their properties. Continue

Lanarkshire datacentre run by renewables and creating thousands of jobs not achievable by 2030, Guardian investigation finds Revealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise ‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre The Guardian has examined government plans to build Britain’s AI infrastructure for the future, finding some of these to be, in the words of one source, at best unclear and at worst “complete bunk”. The plans in question are for AI growth zones, which are supposed to be regions where the government supports companies to build massive AI datacentre complexes, of 500MW or greater. These could be bigger than any now operating in the UK. Continue reading...