Can Blackpool Council's Silicon Sands data centre really be energy efficient?
We speak with computing and sustainability experts to deliver an accurate verdict on Blackpool Council's energy-efficient data centre
Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
When Blackpool Council announced that Silicon Sands would be home to a data centre, those of an environmental mindset likely raised at least one eyebrow in concern. Data centres consume a lot of energy and, done badly, they can impact a community significantly.
It was an acknowledgement of that which means that Blackpool Council has taken steps to ensure the first data centre at Silicon Sands is as energy efficient as possible.
But as vast parts of the UK sit in drought and wildfires have wrapped around Lancashire through the summer, it is important to scrutinise how energy efficient and green a data centre can actually be.
Climate change coverage has been remarkably light in the UK this year despite some of the issues we’ve faced and that’s not a healthy position to be in. You’ll see that The Blackpool Lead is the only title to hold those claims from Blackpool Council up to the light for inspection.
The answer is quite nuanced.
Blackpool briefing
🌹 Blackpool Council’s leader has released a statement addressing the scale of the authority’s debt.
The topic has been front of people’s minds - particularly in Fylde and Wyre - as the two debt-free lower tier authorities look set to merge with Blackpool’s £500m indebted unitary authority.
Cllr Lynn Williams said the debt is not automatically a bad thing and compared it to a business borrowing to invest - noting that the area has significant challenges and the investment has brought in jobs.
She wrote: “It is easy to compare balance sheets without comparing responsibilities.
“The truth is that Blackpool has chosen to tackle the difficult issues rather than simply manage decline. We’ve invested in regeneration, jobs, housing, tourism and public services because our residents deserve opportunity.”
🚔 A man has been charged with manslaughter after the death of a man in 2024.
Robert Kerr, 42, died in Blackpool in September of that year after attending A&E with significant injuries. Initial police investigation suggested that he had been the victim of an assault in the weeks prior to attending hospital.
Five men were arrested on suspicion of murder over the last two years.
One of those men - Andrew McElwee, 29 of Sutherland Road in Blackpool, has been charged with manslaughter and will appear at Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on 21 August.
Four men have been released with no further action.
🎢 The Big Dipper has remained closed for the last week after an incident where parts of the wooden structure appeared to snap.
Pleasure Beach Resorts has not commented extensively on the closure, only to confirm there was a safe evacuation of the ride and that an investigation into the incident would take place.
Can Blackpool Council’s Silicon Sands data centre really be energy efficient?
By Luke Beardsworth
Blackpool Council is in the process of finalising procurement for the development of an ‘energy efficient’ data centre at the Silicon Sands development.
The council intends to award the contract to HOCHTIEF Data Centre Partner UK Ltd who they said submitted the most ‘advantageous tender’.
The deal would mean the investment, construction and running costs will be met entirely by the private sector, after previous work to prepare the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone site by Blackpool Council and the Lancashire Combined County Authority.
The new data centre will form the first phase of Silicon Sands, a new business park designed to attract technology and digital companies to the area, creating new jobs for residents.
But there are an estimated 500-565 data centres operating in the UK - making it the largest data centre market in Western Europe. Research shows that number is set to grow by almost 100 over the next five years as the growth and investment in artificial intelligence increases the need for processing power.
The government considers it to be critical national infrastructure but the National Energy System Operator (NESO) says that the growth of data centres is projected to add up to 71 TWh of electricity demand over the next 25 years. That’s enough energy to power 26.2 million homes for an entire year, or 200 billion miles of driving in an electric vehicle.
Blackpool Council is framing the data centre at Silicon Sands as an environmental win.
Cllr Mark Smith, cabinet member for Economy and Built Environment at Blackpool Council, said: “This is a huge step forward for the future of Blackpool and showing the UK that data centres can create jobs and also tackle the climate emergency.
“Silicon Sands is a transformational opportunity not just for Blackpool, but for Lancashire as a whole. It has the potential to attract significant investment, create thousands of well-paid jobs and establish our region as a leader in sustainable digital infrastructure.
“This project is about more than just data centres. We’re working with responsible suppliers to develop energy-efficient data centres that are also environmentally friendly by using renewable energy, innovative cooling technology and a district heat network to maximise energy use and reduce waste heat.
“Blackpool is becoming a leader in green technology with Silicon Sands leading the way in making the entire data industry more environmentally friendly, all while creating skilled jobs for local people. It’s all part of our plan to make Blackpool better for the people who live here.”
But the expert spoken to by The Blackpool Lead said that while the Silicon Sands data centre is taking all the steps it can to mitigate against environmental impact, the impact is unavoidable.
Adrian Friday, who is a professor in Computing and Sustainability at Lancaster University, told The Blackpool Lead: “My understanding of the Blackpool project is that they’re trying to be as good as they can be.
“They’re using what’s called immersion cooling. You literally immerse the servers in a liquid which has a better heat transfer property. What that means is that you’re not just taking drinking water and evaporating it.
“The plan to connect it to a heat network means that they maybe don’t need boilers because they’ve got a heat exchanger to the network. So I think if they’re going to build a data centre anyway, they’re doing the right sort of things.”
Whenever you build technology, there is an environmental impact. But data centres have been a source of particular concern to anyone with one eye on the climate.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Blackpool Lead to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.