Chapelcross Data Centre Proposal
Data Centre proposal for Chapelcross
From Laura Moodie MSP
I wanted to highlight to you the proposed data centre development at Chapelcross. I have serious concerns about the extraordinary scale of this application, particularly what it could mean for Scotland’s energy system, our climate commitments and our communities in Dumfries and Galloway.
My position is simple: Chapelcross should mean regeneration, but this is not regeneration.
I will be submitting my own formal objection to the application, and I have launched a campaign page that makes it easy to submit an objection, so that you can add your voice too.
Please sign our e-action to object to Chapelcross
Please sign our e-action to object to Chapelcross
If approved, the Chapelcross data centres development would have a potential capacity of around 1GW, making it the largest data centre campus in the world. At full operation, it could use around 7 million MWh of electricity a year, equivalent to the annual electricity use of more than two million Scottish homes.
Demand on that scale cannot be considered in isolation. It raises serious questions about where the electricity will come from, what additional grid infrastructure will be required and what the consequences could be for household energy bills.
Those questions are important because the developer has not yet identified all of the electricity-generating projects that would supply the site. Its own Planning Statement admits that some power sources and connections would be developed separately and that their likely significant environmental effects are “not fully identifiable at this time”.
Demand on that scale cannot be considered in isolation. It raises serious questions about where the electricity will come from, what additional grid infrastructure will be required and what the consequences could be for household energy bills.
Those questions are important because the developer has not yet identified all of the electricity-generating projects that would supply the site. Its own Planning Statement admits that some power sources and connections would be developed separately and that their likely significant environmental effects are “not fully identifiable at this time”.
There are also serious questions about the land being used. Chapelcross is often presented as the redevelopment of a former nuclear and brownfield site, yet the developers admit that most of the application site is greenfield land.
Scotland is now facing a wave of hyperscale data centre proposals. Councils should not have to consider projects with potentially enormous energy and environmental impacts one by one, without a clear national picture of their cumulative effect on electricity demand, infrastructure and our climate targets.
That is why the Scottish Greens brought the issue to Parliament in September and called for a moratorium while a national strategy and updated planning guidance are developed. You can watch my contribution to that debate here. While we were not successful, Chapelcross shows exactly why the Greens were right to call for a moratorium when we did.
We now need people like you to use our quick and easy campaign page and submit your own objection to Dumfries and Galloway Council:
Please sign our e-action to object to Chapelcross
You can also watch my video explaining the scale of the Chapelcross proposals here.
And if you would like to follow developments as the application progresses, you can follow me on social media.
Investment and new jobs in South Scotland are welcome, and Chapelcross should have an important future. But that cannot mean accepting a development of any scale, regardless of its impact on our energy system, climate targets, existing local businesses and countryside.
Chapelcross should mean regeneration. Until those questions have been properly answered and the promised national guidance is in place, I believe this application should be rejected.
Kind regards,
Laura Moodie MSP
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