A planning application has been lodged for a large data centre on the site of the former Chapelcross nuclear power station near Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, BBC News has reported.
The applicant, CX Tech Ltd, hopes to start work next year, with the project expected to take about eight years to complete. BBC News described the scheme as a £16.5bn data centre, and the developers say it would be one of the largest in the world by power capacity.
A planning statement submitted on the company’s behalf, cited by the BBC, said the development could support up to 750 jobs during construction and about 540 once operational, as well as hundreds of indirect posts. It said the scheme would deliver “critical digital infrastructure” while “returning a nationally significant site to productive economic use”.
Graeme Anderson, chief executive of CX Tech, said, as reported by BBC News: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Dumfries and Galloway and for Scotland.
“Chapelcross has the potential to bring together our renewable energy strengths, digital infrastructure and high-value jobs in a way that few other sites can.”
Chapelcross began generating electricity in 1959 and continued until 2004. Its cooling towers were demolished a few years after it closed, and the defuelling of its reactors was completed in 2013. The remaining buildings are not due to be demolished until 2040 at the earliest, with final clearance of the site expected by 2095.
The proposal faces local opposition. According to the BBC, about 1,000 people have signed a petition against it, claiming the development could strain the energy grid and cause household bills to “rocket”. Campaigners have also raised concerns about the loss of farmland and woodland, and the effect on views of the surrounding countryside.
Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) said the planned 1,000MW capacity was greater than that of any data centre currently operating in the world, and that its energy needs would be equivalent to those of about 2.2 million households. The organisation said most of the scheme would be built on greenfield rather than brownfield land, raised concerns about air pollution, waste and climate impacts, and questioned the employment figures.
Laura Moodie, Scottish Green MSP for South Scotland, said, as reported by BBC News: “The site at Chapelcross should be the best place to put a data centre by utilising a decommissioned brownfield site.
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“But the proposal which has been lodged is reckless and endangers our energy supply and natural environment.”
The application comes as the Scottish Government prepares national guidance for local authorities on data centre developments. Ministers rejected a call from the Scottish Greens earlier in September to pause applications until the guidance is in place, but said it would be published by Christmas and that they did not expect any planning decisions to be made before then.
