SIMEC Atlantis Energy has announced plans to build the first ocean-powered data center in the world.
The power supply would include electricity from a private wire network from tidal turbines at the existing 3.5-kilometer (2.2-mile) MeyGen project site and connect to multiple international subsea fiber optic cables, offering service to London, Europe and the United States.
The facility would be located in Caithness, Scotland.
The MeyGen project, currently under development, will be the world’s largest tidal energy plant upon completion. Construction will commence over three phases. According to Atlantis, it has a seabed lease with the option to add another 80 megawatts of tidal capacity, in addition to the 6-megawatt operational array, which has generated more than 20,000 MWh of electricity for export to the grid.
The company said the data center could alleviate constraints on other local renewable energy development, which is restricted by the current grid capacity and the closure of renewable energy subsidy mechanisms.
Projects such as MeyGen would be able to sell power directly to the data center through a new private wire network, benefitting from wholesale power prices.
Atlantis and AECOM have been working together to assess the feasibility of connecting to high-speed international fiber optic connections and undertake the systems design for a data center with access to predictable renewable generation with grid back-up, at a location which benefits from low temperatures, which will help cool off the data center.
According to the company, the turbines used to power the data center will be manufactured in Scotland. Atlantis is in discussions with leading data center operators to progress plans for the data center and facilitate the expansion of MeyGen using the Scottish supply chain.
The data center is expected to be in operation by 2024, in line with expansion plans for the tidal array; however, a smaller initial data center module could be deployed sooner to draw on the output from the existing tidal array, according to Atlantis.
