Product1 publisher2 min readPublished
At a former Scottish nuclear site, CX Tech seeks permission in principle for a 1GW data center campus
CX Tech has asked Dumfries & Galloway Council for planning permission in principle for a £16.5bn, 1GW data center campus at Chapelcross, near Annan. If approved this year, it would be built in phases to 2035 on renewable links the company is still exploring.
The Product Desk · Product desk
Drafted by a language model from the sources cited here and checked against its claim ledger before publication. How we use AISend a correction
What happened
- The application covers eight buildings totaling 162,000 sqm and an on-site substation for what CX Tech calls the CX Technology Campus.
- CX Tech says the site sits next to a 132kV Grid Supply Point and is surrounded by substantial existing and potential renewable energy.
- NDA Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, appointed CX Tech, formerly CX Power, as strategic development partner for the site.
- The Scottish Parliament recently backed a temporary, de facto moratorium on approving new hyperscale data centers until new planning guidelines are finalized.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Even a yes from Dumfries & Galloway could be held up while the Holyrood-backed pause links new hyperscale approvals to planning guidelines still being written.
- decision An operator signing up at Chapelcross would be committing to capacity delivered over eight years against renewable supply that is still at the exploring stage.
- precedent With gigawatts proposed across more than a dozen Scottish projects, how a brownfield site with an existing grid point fares during the moratorium sets expectations for the others.
Picture a site-selection lead at a cloud company opening the Chapelcross project website. The schedule there is written as a conditional: if planning permission is secured this year, construction could run from 2027 to 2035 [3]. The campus would be built out over those eight years [4].
The pitch is bigger than the paperwork. CX Tech puts the campus at £16.5bn [1]. Graeme Anderson, its chief executive, described "approximately 1GW of potential capacity on a major brownfield energy site, delivered in phases" [17]. The paperwork is an application to Dumfries & Galloway Council for permission in principle [2].
Anderson has left the customer open on purpose. "We are not designing this around a single operator or a single point in the market cycle," he said [7]. The platform, he said, would give "major operators the opportunity to deploy and expand at significant scale" [8]. On this evidence, the campus is for a large operator willing to take capacity in phases on a schedule that ends in 2035 [3].
Power is the least finished part of the plan. The nuclear station on the site, decommissioned in 2004, had 240MW of capacity [10]. The campus proposes about 1GW [1], roughly four times that [1]. CX Tech says the campus will run "exclusively" on renewable energy, through direct and private-wire connections to wind, solar and biomass generation that it is exploring [5]. DCD's report does not describe a signed supply agreement [5].
The objection raised in Holyrood does not dispute the location. Laura Moodie, the Scottish Greens MSP for South Scotland, has called for the bid to be rejected [12]. She told Holyrood: "The site at Chapelcross should be the best place to put a data center by utilizing a decommissioned brownfield site. But the proposal which has been lodged is reckless and endangers our energy supply and natural environment." [13] CX Tech held community meetings in June, and a Facebook group against the project has just under 700 members [14].
Two tests sort a campus pitch like this one: whether the planning authority has said yes, and whether the power is under contract. If both hold, an operator can put the site into a deployment schedule. If only one holds, the operator is pricing the other as a risk. That means either a permit with an open energy question or a supply deal waiting on a vote. On the evidence of this filing, Chapelcross passes neither test yet. The council has the application [2], and the renewable links are still being explored [5]. A council approval this year would clear the first test, and the 2027 start depends on it [3].
What to watch
- Whether Dumfries & Galloway Council rules on the PPiP application this year, the condition CX Tech's own 2027-2035 construction window rests on.
- Scotland's finalized planning guidelines for hyperscale data centers, which would end the temporary moratorium Holyrood backed.
- A signed private-wire or supply deal with a wind, solar or biomass generator, or a named anchor operator for the first phase.