Plans have been submitted to develop a large-scale data center campus in Fife, Scotland.

Meanwhile, an application for a campus has been separately filed in the Scottish Borders.

ILI details first Stoic in Fife

ILI Group has submitted an application to Fife Council for planning permission in principle for Cato, a proposed 600MW hyperscale data center near Auchtertool in Fife.

The company said the project would be the flagship development within its planned network of data centers across Scotland, known as the Stoics.

The 25-hectare development would see around £5 billion ($6.71bn) invested and would be delivered in phases over several years. Site plans suggest up to seven buildings and an on-site substation.

Mark Wilson, CEO of ILI Group, said: “The submission of this planning application marks a major milestone for both Cato and Scotland’s digital infrastructure ambitions. Cato represents a significant opportunity for Fife, bringing substantial investment, supporting high-quality jobs, and helping to establish the region as a key location for future digital infrastructure. We look forward to continuing our engagement with local communities and stakeholders as the application progresses through the planning process.”

ILI Group is a Scottish clean energy and infrastructure developer with a portfolio of more than 4.7GW of energy storage and digital projects, including 1.9GW of pumped storage hydro and 2.2GW of utility-scale battery storage.

The company announced plans to develop data centers in Scotland late last year, naming them after the Stoic philosophers. At full build-out, ILI said the Stoics would total 1.5GW. The company is targeting East Ayrshire (Rufus, 540MW) and North Lanarkshire (Aurelius, 400MW).

Auchtertool is a small village in Fife, located between Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. Currently farmland, the proposed site would be next to the Mossmorran industrial complex, on land that was previously considered as a potential extension site to that plant. Exxon Mobil has ceased operations and announced the closure of the Mossmorran plant.

Scottish countryside charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) has noted its opposition to the project.

Kat Jones, director of APRS, said: “This is an inconceivable amount of energy that Scotland is being asked to divert to the use of hyperscale AI data centers, which will enrich a few billionaires in Silicon Valley at the expense of the Scottish consumer. No discussion on energy in Scotland can ignore the impact that these data centers would have on our electricity grid and energy prices.”

Andrea Cail, chair of Auchtertool Community Council, added: “As a community council, we are dismayed and will vigorously oppose the proposal to site a 600MW hyperscale data center right on the edge of our small village in Auchtertool. The buildings and other developments take up land more extensive than the village itself.”

Fife Today suggests a potential legal challenge against the project could be in the works.

Sunlaws targets Scottish Borders

Elsewhere in Scotland, Sunlaws Development Company (SDC) is targeting a development in the Scottish Borders.

The company previously submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) request to the Scottish Borders Council for its Southside Data Centre project, and recently filed a Proposal of Application (Pan).

The 151-hectare campus is set to be developed on land at Clawbare Cottage in Longformacus, outside of Duns. Located on land owned by the Roxburghe Estate, the campus would comprise three two-story data center buildings, each spanning a total of 54,000 sqm (581,251 sq ft), and a substation.

The campus would reportedly offer 225MW of capacity. Construction could start in 2029 for a 2030 launch date. The site would be supplied via a grid connection with a mains gas connection for backup.

SDC was reportedly formed by property management firm Roxburghe Estates and the local landowner

A dedicated project website said the site “offers a unique opportunity for a sensitively and sustainably designed data center that capitalizes on the area’s exceptional environmental, energy, and communications assets, making it one of the most attractive locations for data center development in the country.”

Save The Lammermuirs – Stop The Data Centre, a Facebook group against the project, has 243 members at the time of writing.

The Roxburghe Estate totals more than 50,000 acres. The site includes Floors Castle – Scotland’s largest inhabited castle – a luxury hotel, a championship golf course, and a wind farm. Built in the 1720s, the castle is occupied by the family of the 11th Duke of Roxburghe, Charles Innes-Ker.

Scotland rising, Scotland opposing

Despite having ample renewable power available, Scotland has traditionally had a minimal data center market. The Scottish government has previously run campaigns promoting the country as a data center destination, with little success. But over the last two years, multiple large-scale developments have been proposed across the country, totaling gigawatts of capacity.

These include multiple projects by renewable developers Apatura and ILI Group, as well as developments proposed by new firms AI Pathfinder, SDCL, Shelborn Drummond, Slate Island Developments, and Argyll Data Development.

Local opposition group Foxglove has identified 11 proposed data centers ranging from 200MW to 550MW. The projects span the country, including Edinburgh (x2), North Lanarkshire (x2), East Ayrshire (x2), Scottish Borders, Fife, West Lothian, East Dunbartonshire, and South Lanarkshire.

APRS data suggests announced projects in Scotland could total more than 4.8GW, with several more potentially being announced that could more than double that pipeline. This could be more than double Scotland’s overall energy usage. The country is, however, a major generator and exporter of energy – exporting 21TWh in 2024 – with the majority of its output heading south to England.

Campaign group Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) has called for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers in Scotland, claiming planned developments could harm the environment and swallow up more than 5GW of power.

APRS is also campaigning for a moratorium on hyperscale data centers in Scotland until the Scottish Government examines their impact on the country’s climate targets, electricity grid, and communities.