A biomass energy company wants to build a 12MW data center on the site of a group of derelict buildings in South Wales.

A pre-planning application for a data center at Tyn-y-Caeau, near the A48 Margam Road outside Port Talbot, has been submitted to Neath Port Talbot Council.

The applicant is Western Bio-Energy, a company that runs the 15MWh Western Wood biomass power plant in Port Talbot.

If built, the data center would draw power from the Western Wood plant, the application said.

Currently, the 1.3 hectare site hosts a derelict complex of buildings, which would be demolished to make way for the data center, which would comprise a single building.

It could employ up to 33 people, the application said.

The site is within two km of several nationally or internationally environmentally important sites, including the Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir, as well as three designated wildlife sites, meaning the developer may need to carry out a full environmental impact assessment before submitting a final planning application.

South Wales is already home to several data centers, with Vantage operating a facility outside Cardiff and a site in Newport, which it purchased in 2020. Microsoft Azure is a major tenant at the Newport facility.

Vantage is also planning a major campus at the site of the former Ford car plant in Bridgend, near Neath.