Amazon is planning to build an Oxfordshire data centre on an old coal plant site.

Currently, the 0.72 hectare area includes an office for a renewable energy company, a tarmac car park and a vacant single-story building, having previously been the site of the Didcot A coal power plant.

These would be replaced with the data centre which would cover almost 2,000 square metres and be just over 13 metres high at its tallest point.

Concerns have been raised nationally about data centres energy consumption – which could put pressure on household bills – and their sustainability impact, in particular their consumption of water to cool the computers.

However this proposal will be for a data repository which, according to the design and access statement, requires significantly less power than typical centres that are used for services including online banking.

In addition, it will have solar panels on its roof and is aiming for “negligible water-cooling demand” say its designers MCA Architects (previously Michael Collins Associates).

Its application reference number on the Vale of White Horse District Council website is: P25/V2462/FUL

This new project is next to two other major developments one of which is the Didcot Data Campus, which has outline planning permission for the erection of up to 197,000m2 of land for development.

The other is the £332 million Didcot Science Bridge scheme which includes four highway sections and was approved in December last year.

The Amazon centre will be consulted on until January 9, 2026 with a target decision date of March 3 next year.

During the autumn, Amazon revealed plans to cut around 14,000 corporate jobs as the technology giant rapidly shifts spending towards artificial intelligence (AI).

In a message to workers, the group said the job losses come as part of efforts to reduce layer and “bureaucracy” within the company while also shifting resources to investment in areas such as as AI.

It is understood all main global operations will be impacted, with the UK among those to see office roles axed.

Amazon employs more than 1.5 million staff globally in total, of which about 350,000 are in office-based roles – while the majority of workers are in warehouse jobs.

The company employs about 75,000 people in the UK.

***END***

Disclaimer:  DATACENTRE.ME may not be held responsible or liable for the content or details within this news article.

For further information, please refer to the full details of this article via the original source here.