Eco-friendly data centre planned for Inverness

An eco-friendly data centre has been pencilled in for construction in the Scottish Highlands.

Scotland’s first green data centre will be built by Microsoft partner Alchemy Plus, who will use it to offer electronic information storage to businesses of all sizes.

The £20 million facility will be built at Inverness Harbour and will create 400 new jobs in the region.

Environmental concerns will be placed at the centre of the project, which will adopt an holistic approach to power conservation and renewable energy usage.

Waste heat from the centre will be used to warm offices, retail outlets and a major hotel in the Inverness Harbour development.

The centre’s data storage will be sold using the cloud computing model, which allows customers to pay only for the data they use rather than signing up for a set allowance on a monthly contract.

Alchemy said the Scottish mountains are an ideal location for a data centre because of the easy access to renewable energy sources, the relative security of the area, and the cold local climate which will reduce cooling bills.