CX Tech Limited has applied for Planning Permission in Principle for a proposed 1GW data-centre campus on land north of the former Chapelcross nuclear power station near Annan, Scotland. The filing seeks approval for a development framework, not confirmation that the campus will be built or that electricity for it has been secured.
The application, as reported by DatacenterDynamics, covers eight data-centre buildings, up to 162,000 square metres of data-centre floorspace and an on-site substation. The reported 1GW figure describes the proposal, not operating capacity.
CX Tech says it has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment with the application. Scotland now requires that assessment for new data-centre proposals above 50MW. Submission begins scrutiny of potential effects; it is not approval of the project or independent confirmation that those effects have been resolved.
What the Chapelcross application asks for
Planning Permission in Principle would establish a framework for development if Dumfries and Galloway Council grants it. It would not settle every building design or the later commercial, investment and planning decisions needed to deliver the campus. CX Tech’s project website says future phases remain subject to those decisions.
The developer puts the proposed site at approximately 55 hectares. It describes the land as north of the former nuclear station, not as a conversion of its reactor buildings. Proximity to the former station does not mean the old plant would supply electricity to the data centres.
DatacenterDynamics reports a proposed investment figure of £16.5 billion. That is the project’s stated scale, not evidence that financing has been committed. Nor does the application establish that all eight buildings would be constructed.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has identified the wider Chapelcross area as a strategic site for clean growth, energy and innovation, and has issued planning guidance for it. That wider framework is separate from a decision on CX Tech’s application.
What the 1GW figure does not show
The available accounts do not define whether 1GW refers to computing equipment, total site electricity demand or another capacity measure. Without that definition, the figure cannot be treated as a confirmed grid connection, an amount the site can draw or the output of a power source.
CX Tech is exploring direct connections to renewable generation, according to DatacenterDynamics. Exploring a connection is different from securing one. The available material does not establish a grid connection agreement, a settled generation arrangement or the infrastructure required to supply the proposed campus.
The proposed on-site substation is part of the application, but its inclusion does not answer where all the electricity would come from. Nor does it establish when power might be available for individual buildings. Those distinctions matter for a proposal whose reported capacity is central to its scale.
CX Tech says the campus would be designed around renewable energy, resilient infrastructure and low water use. These are the developer’s descriptions of a proposed design, not independently verified operating results. The application is being considered before the campus exists.
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Environmental review and a call to delay decisions
An Environmental Impact Assessment examines potential effects of a development before a planning decision. A Scottish Government direction that took effect Sept. 17, 2026, requires one for new data-centre applications exceeding 50MW; smaller proposals remain subject to case-by-case screening under existing rules.
The government has identified energy, water, emissions, biodiversity, noise and air quality among the potential considerations for data-centre development. Those are matters for assessment, not findings that this particular project has caused harm or that its proposed design has eliminated it.
CX Tech says a full assessment accompanied its application, following an assessment scoping report it says was submitted in March. The available material does not independently evaluate the full assessment, establish its conclusions or identify which mitigation measures authorities might require. Filing it should not be confused with its acceptance as sufficient or with planning consent.
Planning policy presents a separate question. On Sept. 16, 2026, the Scottish Parliament agreed amendments calling for national planning guidance on large data centres and saying planning or consenting decisions should wait until that guidance is completed. The parliamentary vote is a call about how decisions should proceed, not evidence of an enacted legal moratorium. It does not, by itself, show that the Chapelcross application has been refused or suspended.
Those positions leave council scrutiny and national guidance relevant to the proposal’s timing. They do not supply a decision date or determine the result of the application.
What happens after the filing
CX Tech’s project website lists December 2026 as its target for Planning Permission in Principle. That is the developer’s target, not a scheduled or guaranteed council decision. Further planning, design and investment choices would remain even if permission in principle were granted.
DatacenterDynamics reports that the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said in 2024 it was working with CX Power on a green energy hub at Chapelcross, with potential for AI data centres. That earlier work provides context for the location, but it is not a power agreement or approval for the campus now proposed north of the station.
For now, the filed proposal describes a possible development with a reported 1GW capacity. The consequential tests are still ahead: how that measure is defined, whether electricity and supporting infrastructure can be secured, what the environmental assessment establishes, and what Dumfries and Galloway Council decides.