Lincolnshire council greenlights AI data center amid concerns over emissions

The recent approvals for a new datacentre in Lincolnshire have ignited considerable debate, especially regarding potential environmental impacts. Despite concerns about emissions, North Lincolnshire council unanimously gave the green light for the Elsham Tech Park, a prospective AI datacentre campus situated near Scunthorpe, adjacent to the Elsham Wolds industrial estate.

According to the tech justice nonprofit organization Foxglove, the anticipated emissions from this facility could rival the total emissions produced by every domestic flight within the UK. The council’s documentation estimates that by the fiscal year 2033-34, the datacentre’s “peak annual scope 2 emissions,” which refer to indirect greenhouse gases emitted from electricity generation, might reach as high as approximately 1 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. In comparison, the combined emissions from all domestic flights in the UK is around 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

The council rationalized their approval by stating that although the datacentre would have a considerable energy demand, it would not significantly affect emissions due to its location near various clean energy sources in the Humber region.

As for the timeline of the project, officials from Elsham Tech Park indicated that construction is projected to commence in 2027, with certain parts of the datacentre campus expected to open as early as 2029. The ambition is to construct up to 15 datacentre buildings on the site, providing a staggering 1 gigawatt of computing capacity, potentially positioning it as one of the largest datacentre developments proposed in the UK.

Nonetheless, doubts linger regarding the feasibility of achieving such high power generation levels. Another AI initiative from tech firm Nscale aimed to build a datacentre capable of handling 50 megawatts (MW) of AI computing, with plans to upgrade its capacity to 90 MW. However, recent investigations revealed that, nine months before its scheduled completion, the site in Essex still resembles a scaffolding yard.

The Elsham Tech Park project suggests it will create as many as 900 permanent jobs and could potentially attract nearly £10 billion in private investment. The development also plans to prioritize local businesses for supply chain engagements.

Rob Waltham, the leader of North Lincolnshire council, emphasized the scale of the project, describing the associated economic figures as “eye-watering” and asserting that it presents a “once-in-a-generation investment opportunity.” He elaborated, stating, “This development will provide thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of highly skilled, well-compensated long-term positions while establishing a new industry in Lincolnshire.”

Regarding its environmental strategy, Elsham Tech Park has disclosed that the campus will include features aimed at enhancing biodiversity. This includes initiatives such as new plantings, bat and bird boxes, and wildflower grassland enhancement. Additionally, the centre is designed to be “highly water-efficient,” utilizing closed-loop systems to minimize water usage in the cooling of its servers.

Despite these plans, Tim Squirrell, head of strategy at Foxglove, expressed disappointment, stating, “It is incredibly disappointing to observe big tech’s questionable assertions of economic growth being prioritized over the ongoing climate crisis.” Squirrell further emphasized that North Lincolnshire council appeared to have “overlooked their own policy, which stipulates that 20% of energy must come from on-site renewables,” and accused them of accepting the developer’s inaccurate data, suggesting it seriously downplayed the datacentre’s potential impact on the UK’s carbon budget by a factor of five.

The developer behind the datacentre, Greystoke, responded by underscoring that Elsham Tech Park, located in proximity to the UK’s leading clean energy cluster, is set to bring in £10 billion of private investments while offering thousands of well-compensated jobs and bolstering local supply chains.

Separately, another datacentre project known as Humber Tech Park in North Lincolnshire, also supported by Greystoke, received planning permission in August 2024; however, construction remains pending.