The proposal is for a 1000MW capacity hyperscale data centre on fields north of the decommissioned nuclear power station at Chapelcross, Dumfries and Galloway. The documents are available on the Dumfries and Galloway Planning Portal 26/1649/PIP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This story was covered in:
- The National Plans submitted for ‘world’s largest data centre campus’ in Scotland
- D&G Online
This data centre will be 1000MW, which is bigger than any data centre currently operating in the world (EpochAI.) The data centre with the highest IT power in the world in operation is Elon Musk’s Colossus II in Memphis with 946MW of capacity.
The Chapelcross data centre would use 7 million MWh of energy a year, if operating at the estimated 80% capacity of AI data centres, which is equivalent to almost a third (32%) of all the electricity used in Scotland in 2024.[1]
The Parliament is currently involved in all sorts of scrutiny of the hyperscale data centres, including an inquiry from the climate change committee.
The deadline for Comments and Objections is 29 October
For more information on this development visit the webpage
Lewis-Ann Garner of Say NO to Chapelcross AI Data Centre who lives near Annan
“We are horrified at the scale of this development, it would be bigger than Elon Musk’s Colossus, and that we have only four weeks to read 166 documents and thousands and thousands of pages of information to scrutinise what is going on. This is on agricultural fields and not the decommissioned nuclear site, despite what the developer is trying to say.”
Sam Gibson who is also part of the local campaign group said:
“Many residents of the village near the site and surrounding communities had no idea about the proposal until we started the campaign. There has been a clear lack of meaningful community engagement in consultations so far. People who have attended consultations have reported that their questions were deemed “too technical” and could not be answered.
“The data centre would use seven million MWh of electricity annually, which is equivalent to energy used by 2.2 million households [2](nearly as many households as exist in Scotland). The energy grid cannot handle that kind of large continuous load, and local people would pay the price. We are worried about the diesel generator fumes for the backup, noise, and that the electricity grid won’t cope.”
Kat Jones Director of APRS said:
“This is a cynical move by the developer who has put this planning application in right under the noses of the Parliament who voted, two weeks ago, to pause decisions on planning until there was proper guidance in place.
“This will put the Scottish Government on the spot – they have said that developers can still put in applications, but also agreed that no decisions will be taken until guidance is in place. They need to immediately make much clearer their position to local authorities and to the developers. It is for just these kind of situations that we need guidance. We can’t have developments landing in Scotland that would use in a year the equivalent of a third of Scotland’s electricity use. It is just not possible to accommodate this kind of energy demand.
“This is a test of the Parliament’s agreement two weeks ago and it is a direct challenge to the democratic processes currently going on in the Parliament, including work in at least two Parliamentary Committees.”
Notes
APRS Data Centre map is here www.aprs.scot/data-centre-map
The climate change committee have written to the Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodlad and the Minister for Climate Action and Rural Affairs Gillian Martin asking for clarity on the strategic approach in the Programme for Government asking time scales for delivery, and how stakeholders and the public will be involved in the development of national planning and spatial guidance. They also will ask how Scottish Government will incorporate the wording from the motion as amended from the debate on 16th September.
Calculations
[1] Average Load factor of a data centre 80% (NESO states that the ‘fleet wide average load factor is 70%, yet this has been judged to increase to 80-85% for hyperscale facilities and data centres dealing predominately with AI.)
So this is 1000 x 0.8 x 24 x 365 = 7 million MWh
Total Energy consumption in 2024 in Scotland 21.7 TWh
[2] electricity usage of average Scottish home in a year 3140KWh
Number of households in Scotland in 2024 2,550,000
Barry Smitham is in his eighties, and lives directly next to the site:
“All of the local inhabitants feel that this project will not provide a large number of new jobs, and that building labour will be supplied by the contractor from afar, who will have his trained skilled teams already.
“Everyone locally considers that our local Dumfries and Galloway area will be turned into a ruined industrial area where people visiting will take one look and retreat onward to the Highlands.
Alan Hiddleston, Creca Resident
I’ve been in Creca for over 25 years and am genuinely worried about our future here.
Notes
APRS Data Centre map is here www.aprs.scot/data-centre-map
The climate change committee have written to the Public Finance Minister Hannah Mary Goodlad and the Minister for Climate Action and Rural Affairs Gillian Martin asking for clarity on the strategic approach in the Programme for Government asking time scales for delivery, and how stakeholders and the public will be involved in the development of national planning and spatial guidance. They also will ask how Scottish Government will incorporate the wording from the motion as amended from the debate on 16th September.
Calculations
[1] Average Load factor of a data centre 80% (NESO states that the ‘fleet wide average load factor is 70%, yet this has been judged to increase to 80-85% for hyperscale facilities and data centres dealing predominately with AI.)
So this is 1000 x 0.8 x 24 x 365 = 7 million MWh
Total Energy consumption in 2024 in Scotland 21.7 TWh
[2]
electricity usage of average Scottish home in a year 3140KWh
Number of households in Scotland in 2024 2,550,000
