UK renewables developer Apatura is planning another large data center campus on the Scottish border.

As reported by the Border Telegraph, the company has filed an application with the Scottish Borders Council for a campus. The council this week decided the proposal doesn’t require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before it can apply for full planning permission.

Through its Apatura DC Project 3 Ltd affiliate, the company aims to develop on 69 hectares of greenfield land north and east of Stainrigg Mains Farm in Coldstream, a town on the northwest border with England.

The development would include up to 70,000 sqm (753,473 sq ft) of data center buildings, totaling 300MW; an on-site substation; and a 500MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). A roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system is also planned. Apatura is yet to submit full planning applications for the data center(s) or BESS.

The company said development will take approximately three years to complete once the construction starts.

“It is the view of the council as planning authority that the impacts of the proposal would not require it to be subject of an Environmental Impact Assessment,” the council said this month. “Nevertheless, the scale of the proposed development is vast, and its impact will require thorough assessment as part of any prospective planning application.”

Founded in 2014, Apatura describes itself in the application as a leader in energy infrastructure development, with a 10.6GW portfolio of grid-secured energy projects, including 1.8GW of grid connections targeting data center developments.

Full details about the company’s other data center developments aren’t clear, but the BBC recently said the company has five sites in development across the country.

The company recently filed to develop a 200MW data center campus at a former coal site outside Cumnock, in southwest Scotland’s East Ayrshire, alongside a large-scale BESS.

It is also planning a 500MW data center and BESS campus at the former Ravenscraig Steelworks site in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.

Apatura has other BESS projects planned in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire; East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire; Eaglesham and Neilston, East Renfrewshire; Denny, Falkirk; Devonside, Clackmannanshire; and Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.

DataVita recently opened a new data center in Glasgow in its parent company’s office development, having previously expanded its Fortis data center in August 2022. Asanti & Atos, Pulsant, IOmart, CenterServ, and Lumen operate small facilities across the country. In December of 2021, Oracle closed the Sun Microsystems data center in Linlithgow.

The Scottish government has previously run campaigns outlining the country as a potential data center destination, identifying multiple potential development sites that can be made available.

The real estate affiliate of UK potato supplier Albert Bartlett is potentially planning a data center at a development in Airdrie.