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The company behind a world-leading tidal energy project in the Scottish Highlands has today announced plans for a new data centre which would be powered from electricity generated at the site.

SIMEC Atlantis said the data centre planned for Caithness would be the first ocean-powered facility of its kind.

It expects that the data centre would be connected to multiple international subsea fibre optic cables, offering a fast and reliable connection to London, Europe and the USA as well as improved links with the central belt.

Atlantis said the success of an initial data centre linked to expansion of its MeyGen tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth could attract a much larger facility to Scotland in the years ahead.

The company has been working with engineering group AECOM to assess the feasibility of the project and carry out design for a data centre with access to renewable generation with grid back-up.

Atlantis said the data centre, which could be operational by 2024, could also alleviate constraints on other local renewable energy development, which is restricted by the current grid capacity and the closure of renewable energy subsidy mechanisms.

It is in in discussions with global data centre operators to progress the plans.

Tim Cornelius, chief executive of SIMEC Atlantis, 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.”

The MeyGen tidal energy project in the Pentland Firth generated £2.1 million in revenues over the past year, according to recent figures. The £51 million project – whose backers include the Scottish Government - has four turbines under the first phase of the scheme.