The 160 acre, 550MW project is the brainchild of Apatura, a Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) developer with offices in York and Edinburgh. Ravenscraig is one of five sites the company is looking to progress across Scotland’s central belt, where over 1.6GW of new grid connections have already been confirmed. Apatura claims that BESS combined with Scotland’s excess wind energy – set for huge expansion over the next decade – will allow these data centres to operate with a comparatively low carbon footprint.
Once one of Europe’s biggest hot strip steel mills, Ravenscraig ceased operations in 1992. Now the 1200-acre plot, which sits about 20km east of Glasgow in North Lanarkshire, is one of the UK’s biggest brownfield development projects.
Apatura claims its £3.9bn investment plan for Ravenscraig could add 0.4 per cent to Scotland’s GDP, with much of the benefit retained in North Lanarkshire. The proposal, which has been put forward as a candidate for the UK government’s AI Growth Zone initiative, is predicted to create around 2,000 long term jobs, with several thousand more through the construction phase.
“This proposal plays strongly to Scotland’s strengths – in green energy, in AI, in education and in skills – and would complement the country’s significant capabilities in big data and research,” said Apatura CEO, Giles Hanglin.
“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. If we were selected as an AI Growth Zone it would be a significant endorsement of our ambition to make Scotland a powerhouse of green, AI-enabled digital infrastructure – starting with Ravenscraig and extending across the central belt.”
The developers claim that locating data centres in Scotland, close to where large amounts of renewable energy will be available, will help reduce grid constraint payments and lower consumer bills. Given to windfarm and solar generators to curb the supply of clean energy during periods of overproduction, these payments amounted to nearly £1bn in 2024 and are forecast to rise to £3bn by 2030.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Ravenscraig to be at the forefront of green data centres which will transform Scotland’s renewable power capabilities,” said Russell Wilkie, director of Ravenscraig Ltd, which owns the brownfield site.
“With grid connections in place, land secured, and a delivery team aligned, we have a fully viable site within the Ravenscraig masterplan to meet the UK’s AI infrastructure needs.”
