Chapelcross Data Centre

That the Parliament notes the lodging of a planning application for a 1GW hyperscale data centre next to the decommissioned nuclear power plant at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway; believes that the proposed facility would be the biggest in the world, surpassing the 946MW SpaceXAI Colossus 2 in Tennessee; understands with concern that 60% of the campus would be built on greenfield land and would not fully utilise the existing brownfield land on the site; further understands that the proposed data centre would use an estimated 7 terawatt hours of electricity each year, equivalent to the annual electricity usage of over two million households; welcomes the position of the Scottish Government that “no decisions on planning or consenting in relation to such applications should be made” until a wide range of strategic work has been done by the Scottish Ministers, including environmental standards and assessments, but believes that, until there is a clear and coherent national strategy from the Scottish Government, this proposal, and others across the country, cannot proceed.