Update on Proposed Datacentre Near Auchtertool

UPDATE ON AUCHTERTOOL DATA CENTRE PROPOSAL

Edit: 21st December 2025 - added point relating to noise pollution.

Following community council meeting 11^th November 2025

At our CC meeting in November, Greig Templeton from ILI attended to provide an update about the proposed data centre. He confirmed that it is a flag ship project for ILI, and the bid is being made by Fife Council in conjunction with St Andrews and Edinburgh University to the UK Govt.

The government are designating ‘AI growth zones’ across the UK, there are likely to be 2 in England and 1 in Scotland. The zones will have incentives ( a bit like the Freeport’s) but these have not been defined.

ILI are backing a bid by Fife Council for an AI growth zone in Fife. This forms part of ILI’s plan to build a “hyperscale datacentre cluster” consisting of 3 datacentres across the central belt: one major (Auchtertool - 600MW) and two slightly smaller ones (North Lanarkshire- 400MW and East Ayrshire - 540MW).

Of the 3 sites being proposed by ILI, the Auchtertool data centre has had the most work done to date. Exhibition events have been held in north Lanarkshire, but nothing yet in East Ayrshire.

Other bids are being developed - a large bid is being put together for the old Ravenscraig site (Lanarkshire Council / Apatur.) and there are also bids in East Lothian, Argyll and Dunoon.

Greig stated that ILI were ambitious with their time scales and had hoped to be further ahead - the goal is to submit a planning application in the next quarter, probably by March 2026.

Greig addressed some of the issues / requests / concerns raised at the public meetings held in the village in the spring.

Water supply - the company are in communication with Scottish Water Horizons. It is likely a new pipe would be required as the mains pipe is too small. Recent upgrades to our local supply are not related to the data centre.

Cooling the datacentre - a range of options are being explored. It could use tap water for cooling (most common method) which would use a lot of water.

Noise - The datacentre will emit some noise pollution. There will be a limit on this as part of the planning conditions (if approved). If the datacentre is found to breach this limit the operator would be forced to rectify this. The limit and how this compares to other sites around Auchtertool is currently unknown.

District heating system – excess heat from the datacentre could be used to heat homes in the surrounding area, known as a district heating system. ILI consulted on this and were initially advised that the village is too small on its own but could be combined with other areas, e.g. new builds in Lochgelly. A large amount of retrofit would be required for older properties for a district heating system (ie probably not viable) and it is easier for newbuilds. ILI would aim to make district heating available to the furthest away person that wants it and it would be up to the individual to decide if they want to go ahead. At present it is unknown how much of the works would be paid for by the datacentre. GT confirmed they are still actively working on this.

Size of the buildings - these will be larger than originally thought, 30-35m in height. A mock up photo of what the building could look like was shared (as being planned in England) link to visualisation

A colour coded map was shared at the meeting to show where the data centre will be visible from (based on building height of 35m), this confirmed that 25% of the site will be visible throughout most of the village. Link to map

Site access - access to the site will be from the B925, west of Auchtertool

Environmental impact – GT advised ILI were prepared to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) if requested. An EIA has since been requested by Fife Council

Employment - There is potential for local apprenticeships, and 30-50 permanent jobs once the site is up and running, and GT confirmed that the Govt is looking for a sustainable wind down to Mossmorran (NB this meeting was held before the formal announcement of the closure), and allegedly up to 1,000 jobs could be created during construction

Benefits to Auchtertool – In addition to the potential benefits already listed, there is an opportunity as a village to ‘think big’ about what other benefits could be requested. Residents are encouraged to reach out to ILI directly (info@ili-energy.com) or to contact the Auchtertool Community Council via the website form (link).

NEXT STEPS

The community council have requested ILI to come back to the village in the new year to run another information event if there is demand.

The community council will be reaching out to residents in the near future to try and better understand the views of the village on this development so they can be properly represented.