Ambitious plan to create huge AI data centre at Ravenscraig

It was once one of the biggest hot strip steel mills in Europe.

- ROSS THOMSON

Now plans have been unveiled to transform part of Ravenscraig into what could become one of the UK's largest green Al data centres - bringing thousands of new jobs and billions of pounds of inward investment.

The ambitious proposal has been put forward by Edinburgh and York based renewable energy developer Apatura, with plans to develop a major data centre with battery energy storage on 160 acres at the iconic post-industrial site, located in central Scotland, less than 20km east of Glasgow. It will be powered by 550 megawatts of grid connections due to come online by 2030.

Ravenscraig is one of five Al-ready sites Apatura is progressing across Scotland's central belt, backed by over 1.6GW of confirmed grid connections, making them one of only a few UK developers ready to deliver Al infrastructure at this scale.

The Ravenscraig data centre would harness Scotland's growing supply of renewables - using constrained wind and solar generation that's often wasted on windy, sunny days - helping to reduce grid congestion and lower consumer bills throughout the UK.

Commenting on the bid, Apatura CEO Giles Hanglin said: "This proposal plays strongly to Scotland's strengths - in green energy, in Al, in education and in skills - and would complement the country's significant capabilities in big data and research.

"We've secured the land and grid, and we're already working closely with relevant organisations locally and nationally to make sure the benefits are widely felt.