First Silicon Sands data centre gets green light
Fylde Council has voted to approve the 34,000 sq ft “technology exemplar building”, which will seek to put Blackpool Council’s data centre campus’s green goals into action by exploring sustainable cooling methods.
Lancaster University is working alongside Blackpool Council on the three-storey data centre, research and development, and office complex. The application approved by Fylde Council this week is an outline one and focuses on a more than one-acre site off Squires Gate Lane within the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.
This will be the first of many data centres on the 50-acre Silicon Sands if Blackpool Council can have its way. The masterplan for the scheme already includes provision for two other data centres of 10MW and 30MW.
This first data centre is much smaller than its future companions, with a capacity of 6MW. However, it plays a vital role in enabling researchers to explore and test the use of immersion cooling technology over cooling fans at data centres.
If the immersion cooling tech works the way it should, this would lead to a massive reduction of power consumption from data centres – up to 60%. In the process, it would also reduce the need for coolers, chillers, fans, and pumps on the site.
The liquid that is heated up as a result of this process would not be wasted either. It would become part of the campus’s district heat network and provide low-carbon and low-energy heat to neighbouring businesses.
The outline plans from Blackpool Council also include a 61-space car park.
The approval comes shortly after SP Electricity North West said it would begin building a 330,000-volt substation to support Silicon Sands’ power infrastructure.
Silicon Sands is being hailed as a potential economic gamechanger for the Blackpool and Fylde area. The data centre campus, alongside Peel Park, has been put forward as a potential AI Growth Zone. Blackpool Council estimates that should it succeed in the growth zone bid, the scheme would deliver £6.1bn in economic impact and support 6,000 jobs.
Blackpool’s Silicon Sands dreams are supported by Cassidy + Ashton and WSP. To learn more about the project search 25/0646 on Fylde Council’s planning portal.
