Simec Atlantis Energy has announced ambitions for a tidal-powered data centre in the Caithness region of Scotland.
The supply for such a data centre would include electricity delivered via a private wire network from tidal turbines at the existing MeyGen project site.
Simec Atlantis said MeyGen has a seabed lease and consents secured for a further 80MW of tidal capacity, in addition to the 6MW operational array which has generated more than 20,000 megawatt-hours of electricity.
The target operations date for the data centre is expected to be 2024, in line with the expansion plans for the tidal array, the company said.
However a smaller initial data centre module could be deployed sooner to draw on the output from the existing tidal array, it added.
Simec Atlantis said this would be the first ocean powered data centre in the world, with the potential to attract a hyperscale data centre occupier to Scotland.
The centre would be connected to multiple international subsea fibre optic cables, offering a fast and reliable connection to London, Europe and the US, the company said.
“Further connectivity to the central belt using domestic terrestrial networks could significantly improve Scottish data and connectivity resilience,” it added.
Simec Atlantis has been working with multinational engineering company Aecom to assess the feasibility of the project.
The private wire connection is intended to provide an alternative pathway to construction of the next large phase of the MeyGen project without reliance on the UK government’s current support schemes for renewable energy.
Atlantis is in discussions with unnamed ‘world leading’ data centre operators to progress the plans and facilitate the expansion of MeyGen using the Scottish supply chain.
It is expected that the turbines to power this giant data centre will be manufactured in Scotland, the company said.
Simec Atlantis Tim Cornelius said: “Data is being touted as the new oil. It is arguably becoming the world’s most valuable resource, and the amount of data requiring storage is increasing at a staggering pace.
“However, data centres are undeniably power hungry, and the clients of data centre operators are rightly demanding power be sourced from renewable and sustainable sources.
“This exciting project represents the marriage of a world leading renewable energy project in MeyGen with a data centre operator that seeks to provide its clients with a large amount of computing power, powered from a sustainable and reliable source – the ocean.
“At MeyGen we have many of the ingredients to provide clean power to the data centre, including a large grid connection agreement, proximity to international fibre optic connections and persistent cool weather.”