The world’s most modern and environmentally friendly data center will be built in Seinäjoki during this and next year. The center will only use greenly generated electricity. Over 90 percent of the excess heat produced by the data center will be captured and utilized in the local district heating network. In practice this will make Seinäjoki Data Center the world’s first carbon neutral, even carbon negative data center. The technical implementation for Seinäjoki Data Center is the responsibility of German company, Rittal. The project will use completely new technology developed by Rittal.
“We were interested in the project right from the start because of its progressive nature. We want to be involved in the development project, which is extremely energy-efficient and emphases green values”, stresses Rittal’s Finnish Sales Director, Mikko Aho.
“New technology allows the Data Center’s excess heat to be captured and utilized to serve the whole Seinäjoki area,” adds Antti Pajulammi, Chairman of the Board for Kiinteistö Oy DC Seinäjoki, which is responsible for construction.
Mika Lintilä, the Minister of Economic Affairs, thanked Seinäjoki’s activity at the Data Center’s launch event. “Finland’s location is an excellent place for data centers. In one go Seinäjoki took and grabbed for itself a part of an international trend. It is not really surprising from the city, which is proclaimed the capital of space. Thanks to this project, Seinäjoki is one of the most ecological environments in the world and an enticing target for sustainable investment.
Seinäjoki Mayor, Jaakko Kiiskilä, regards the Data Center project as a shining example of the benefits of new technology. The new data center will significantly reduce the city’s CO2 emissions. It will also positively affect the whole of Finland’s CO2 emissions.
“New technology enables substantial cuts in CO2 emissions. Seinäjoki is a trailblazer for the rest of the world, on how data centers can be carbon-negative plants. Thus, the project has great significance to Finland’s image as a developer of environmentally friendly technical solutions. The Data Center’s location is ideal considering the whole world,” Kiiskilä points out.
The data center area as a whole is an immense new opportunity and image injection to Seinäjoki city and the region’s whole economic activity. The city mayor has good reason to be excited.
“A massive investment in itself and a considerable groundbreaker to a sector, where growth shows no sign of stopping,” remarks Kiiskilä.
The location of the data center is also important. It is beside the main train line, road connections are in good condition, Seinäjoki airport is next to it and the new data cable connecting Asia and Europe via the Artic Sea, runs right next to the center.
The total investment for the first stage of Seinäjoki Data Park reaches approximately €100m. The building expenses itself are €34-39m and the data center technology and equipment €60-70m. The price depends on what kind of equipment the end users want. Customers are global operators with company-specific special requirements.
The area has space for other data center units. In the coming years the total investment can reach over a billion euros.
“In our skill center we have created in Seinäjoki a holistic data center concept, which has been designed to use the sector’s latest technology. We also have our international partners at our disposal, who for their part support technology supplies,” Rittal’s Aho assesses.
The construction of the first unit is the responsibility of Kiinteistö Oy DC Seinäjoki. Global operator, Rittal, is responsible for customer acquisition and the building’s new technology.
The energy produced by the Data Center fills a need for Seinäjoen Energia. With the help of carbon-neutral energy it will be able to guarantee customers and businesses access to green heating energy at a reasonable price.
“Seinäjoen Energia has committed to completely carbon-neutral electric and heat production by 2030. This project has an extremely significant role in achieving this objective. The useful heat produced by the Data Center is a good solution. Non-combustion based fully emission free technology. This is the future of clean district heating,” states Vesa Hätilä, Seinäjoen Energia’s Managing Director.
“In the initial stage the data center’s useful heat would produce about a tenth of the district heat needed by Seinäjoki, in the future maybe as much as a third of the heat requirement. The heat produced by the data center can be totally utilized for the requirements of city residents. The heat available from the data center could heat all the detached houses on the city’s district heating network, and there would still be heat left over,” calculates Hätilä.
Further Information: Jari Porttila, Executive Advisor, International Data Center, +358 400 708 579, jari.porttila@idcoy.com
