Power equipment shortages threaten Scotland DC growth

Author: Joe Peck

A shortage of critical power equipment could become one of the biggest barriers to delivering Scotland’s planned data centre expansion, according to Opna, a London-based climate finance platform.

The comments follow reports that an £8.2 billion AI data centre project in Lanarkshire, led by CoreWeave and DataVita, is unlikely to meet its original target of being operational by 2030.

While discussion around Scotland’s data centre growth has largely focused on renewable energy generation and grid connections, Opna argues that shortages of transformers, switchgear, cables, and other electrical equipment present an equally significant challenge.

According to Montel’s curtailment report, Scottish wind farms received around £343 million in payments to switch off in 2025. At the same time, Wood Mackenzie reports average transformer lead times have reached 128 weeks, with some orders extending beyond four years, while prices have increased by 77% since 2019.

Grid upgrades and data centres compete for equipment

Shilpika Gautam, founder and CEO of Opna, says, “The massive investment in grid upgrades to support Scotland’s data centres is being hindered by a shortage of critical power equipment: transformers, cables, switchgear, etc. Network operators, who buy in bulk and have long-term agreements with manufacturers, get priority for these supplies.

“As a result, when a data centre orders equipment, it’s pushed to the back of a four-year waitlist. Grid expansion and data centre development compete for the same resources, while only network operators have reliable access to manufacturers.

“Connecting to the grid is the bottleneck, but procuring critical power equipment is the bottleneck of the bottleneck; few are addressing it.”

Opna points to the scale of electricity network investment already under way in Scotland. SP Energy Networks began a £12 billion programme of grid upgrades across central and southern Scotland in April, including 12 new substations and a supply chain framework worth up to £5.4 billion over 10 years.

Meanwhile, SSEN Transmission is investing at least £22 billion in northern Scotland by 2031 and recently announced a further £7.4 billion supply chain framework.

Shilpika continues, “The tens of billions of pounds of grid upgrades meant to unblock Scotland’s data centres are being bought from the same transformer and switchgear order books those data centres need. Network operators are bulk buyers with multi-year framework agreements; manufacturers allocate scarce production slots to them first.

“A single data centre project arriving with a one-off order goes to the back of a four-year book. [As mentioned,] grid expansion and data centre growth are now competing for the same equipment, and only one side of that competition has a standing seat at the manufacturers’ table.”