// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Building more data centres could push up electricity prices, expert warns
Scotland has been identified as a prime location for building hyperscale AI data centres due to the high potential for renewable energy
Building more data centres could push up electricity prices for consumers and challenge climate change targets, MSPs have been told.
Scotland has been identified as a key location for building hyperscale AI data centres because of the high potential for renewable energy, principally from wind.
But academics have warned that could still result in more gas being used to create electricity at times of low wind and solar power, which has been driving up prices in the Republic of Ireland and the US.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) said plans were in place to decouple the high cost of gas from bills.
But it added that building more data centres in Scotland would be an important way of keeping electricity prices lower.
Will our peaceful rural life be destroyed by a huge AI data centre?
Holyrood's Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee, external is investigating the energy use that will come from placing more data centres in Scotland.
Dr Callum MacIver, research fellow at the University of Strathclyde, said data centres in Scotland would mop up excess renewable energy.
This would cut the multi-million pound bill for constraint payments, which are made when there is too much wind power being generated.