DataVita power plans for its Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone now describe grid-supplied data centres rather than relying on a promised direct connection to more than 1GW of local renewable generation. The company’s current energy information says its centres are fully supplied by the National Grid, with nearby renewable connections a possibility for the future. The difference was highlighted in reporting published on Saturday 7 November 2026.
The development is at Chapelhall near Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. DataVita’s January 2026 announcement promoted 500MW of potential AI data centre capacity alongside more than 1GW of renewable generation connected by private wires. In a response reported by the Guardian on 7 November, the company said its commitment to renewable power remained but its centres were designed to be grid supplied.
For planning professionals, the significant issue is not whether grid electricity can be purchased under a renewable contract. It is whether the electricity-supply assumptions used to describe a major industrial development still match the project being assessed. The revised public explanation does not itself constitute planning permission, a refusal, or evidence that a formal amended application has been lodged.
How DataVita power plans were presented
In January, the company presented its AI Growth Zone as three linked parts: data centres, renewable energy parks and innovation space. The energy parks were to provide solar, wind and battery capacity directly connected to the computing facilities. The announcement envisaged generation exceeding the data centres’ electricity demand, with surplus power exported to the public network.
The company’s current account of DataVita power plans instead says the centres are connected to and supplied by the national network and do not depend on a particular generator. It describes potential future supply from nearby renewable energy, alongside other suppliers. The difference concerns the wider project’s public presentation. It should not be confused with a change to the DV4 application, whose filed energy statement already described grid supply.
The Guardian’s 7 November report quotes a DataVita spokesperson saying: “Our grid supply will be through a renewable power purchase agreement.” The company disputed the suggestion that it had misrepresented its earlier intentions. A power purchase agreement can support renewable procurement without establishing a private electrical connection from a particular wind or solar project.
DataVita power plans therefore need to be described with that distinction intact. Electricity delivered by the grid, potentially matched contractually with renewable generation, is not the same physical arrangement as a direct private wire. Nor does either description demonstrate that every proposed energy park, electricity connection or data centre has secured its own planning approval.
What is actually before North Lanarkshire Council
The developer announced on 2 September that it had submitted an application for planning permission in principle for DV4, a new building at Lancaster Avenue. The application is identified as 26/01110/PPP in planning-register reporting. DataVita’s published material describes a proposed building up to 26 metres tall, supported by energy, noise, air-quality, ecology, transport, drainage and other technical assessments.
That DV4 application should not be confused with the entire 500MW AI Growth Zone ambition. DataVita’s September announcement does not state an electrical load for DV4, and the 500MW figure relates to the wider programme rather than this single application. Equally, the existing DV1 facility and DV3 construction are distinct from a determination of the DV4 planning application.
The developer says the DV4 proposal represents £849.6 million of construction investment, with 120 permanent jobs and 2,650 construction job-years. These are promoter forecasts, not independently verified benefits or conditions attached to an issued permission. The September application was already supported by a grid-based energy strategy. The new public explanation does not establish that it has been formally amended or decided.
Scottish environmental assessment rules also matter
Scotland introduced a new direction effective 17 September 2026 requiring environmental impact assessment (EIA) for data centre developments exceeding 50MW where the specified Schedule 2 development categories apply. The Scottish Government identified possible effects on climate, energy, water, air quality, habitats and landscapes, and the need to consider them early in project design.
For a facility of the scale proposed at Chapelhall, the assessment of electricity supply and back-up generation is particularly relevant. Planners need reliable information about what electrical infrastructure will be used, what is still proposed rather than secured, and how operational assumptions affect the environmental case. An EIA is a mechanism for assessing effects, not a presumption that the application will be approved or refused.
The DV4 Energy Statement dated 31 August 2026, lodged with the application, already says the project is served by a transmission-level grid connection and that no private-wire connection forms part of this application. It allows infrastructure to accept a future private-wire connection, but says that future possibility is not relied upon in the present energy case. That clarifies the actual planning baseline before the November publicity.
Government support is not consent for every project
In August, the UK Government announced a £202 million National Wealth Fund guarantee supporting a £300 million financing package. The announcement described expansion of DV1 and construction of another facility, rather than a blanket finance or planning approval for the entire 500MW programme. The guarantee should not be misreported as a grant of planning permission or as finance already allocated specifically to DV4.
When evaluating DataVita power plans, investors and infrastructure advisers will want to distinguish capacity already operating, buildings under construction, applications awaiting determination and renewable projects still at the proposal stage. A claimed future private-wire connection can depend on multiple separate land, grid, environmental and consenting steps. Project timetables and financial projections should reflect those dependencies.
That is the commercial significance of DataVita power plans being clarified now. Electricity supply may be technically possible through more than one route, but a planning assessment must be based on accurate information about the actual route pursued. It is too early to infer from the company’s updated wording alone that it has breached a planning condition or that a permission has been withdrawn.
What happens next at Chapelhall
The next important documents will be any later revisions to the lodged energy statement, the environmental assessment documentation, and subsequent council or ministerial decisions. Readers should not treat an interview, a funding announcement or an aspiration for renewable infrastructure as a planning determination. The original application and any new statutory consultation will establish the formal procedural stage.
Planning Geek’s Scottish planning resources explain why Scottish planning procedures should be checked separately from English permitted development and development management rules. The Chapelhall case also shows that environmental assessment is about the project as proposed, not just the language used to market it.
For now, DataVita power plans are clearer on one point: grid supply is the stated basis for the centres, while direct connections to nearby renewable generation remain possible in the future. The DV4 application filed in September had already taken that approach. The 7 November reporting highlights the contrast with the wider programme’s earlier promotional claims, rather than recording a new planning consent or necessarily an amended DV4 application.
0 Comments