Internet Villages International, a sustainable property company, has announced plans for the world’s first green powered Data Farm to be built on the outskirts of Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire.

This £600m investment will result in the creation of 500 jobs in the area. By completion, the Lockerbie Data Farm will provide 3 million sq ft of data storage, so will be the largest of its kind in the world. Work is expected to start in 2008 and be completed by 2010.

What also makes the project unique is the use of renewable energy to power equipment in the Data Farm. Electricity will be sourced from the nearby E-On UK biomass power station, the largest such power station in the UK, and from existing and planned wind generation in Dumfries and Galloway.

The waste heat from the Data Farm will provide low cost heating to a planned adjacent eco internet village and to local horticultural businesses.