Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) has revealed it is exploring options to build data centres within the Uskmouth power station development site in Newport.
Uskmouth is a former coal-fired power station which is being converted to run on waste-derived fuel. Following full conversion, the site is expected to generate 220MW of baseload electricity.
In an operational update SAE says it has engaged data centre development specialist TechRE to explore options to locate edge and hyperscale data centres at the site.
Hyperscale data centres are facilities that are owned and operated by the company they support and offer big data storage, while edge data centres are smaller and deliver cloud computing resources.
Under the plans it is proposed that power could be delivered through a private wire network under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) to the owners and operators of the data centres built onsite at Uskmouth.
The company has also announced that due to disruption caused by Covid, the Uskmouth project will now be developed in two phases.
The initial phase will comprise the conversion of the first 110MW generation unit at the power station followed by a second unit which will be converted to increase the total net output from the station to 220MW.
Tim Cornelius, chief executive of SAE, said: “The decision to phase the conversion into two stages is prudent as it de-risks supply chain timelines, fuel supply and most importantly the timeline to first electrons exported to the grid and therefore revenue generation. Further, we are delighted to be working with TechRe on the potential development of a large, private wire supply contract to data centre operators at Uskmouth.
“This could become one of the most exciting corporate PPA projects in the UK, demonstrating how the digital economy can work hand-in-hand with sustainable energy generators to establish more data centre capacity in the UK to meet ever growing demands in an ethical and responsible way.”
Henry Sutton, head of EMEA projects at TechRe Consulting, said: “TechRe is delighted to be working with Atlantis to help develop initial designs and identify potential anchor customers for an exciting new data centre campus to be located next to, and sustainably and responsibly powered by, this ground breaking conversion project.
“Data centre end users are increasingly requiring access to renewable power to power the digital economy and a key competitive advantage from this project will be the lower power costs generated by a sustainable supply provided by private wire connection. The Uskmouth site will be attractive for hyperscale, wholsesale colocation and internet edge operators and will form a unique, fully connected and sustainable tech hub.”