A 54-ACRE DATA CENTER CLUSTER

Norwegian colocation services provider Green Mountain, has announced it plans to develop a data center cluster in Kalberg Valley, Norway.

The company considers Kalberg Valley as a promising site due to its nearness to Fagrafjell substation. The power substation is being developed by Statnett and will connect three different power lines, enabling renewable energy to be available for data center customers in the region.

The national grid company Statnett, expects to complete the substation project in 2023, which will provide up to 1000MW of renewable power from hydro and wind sources.

“There are few places in the Nordic region where the conditions are as favorable as at Kalberg. We already have request from several international clients,” said Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO of Green Mountain.

“In the high-case scenario we expect the area to grow bigger than the cluster in Lulelå, Sweden, where Facebook has established. I am confident that this is the most promising area for data center development in Norway today.”

The planned data center campus sits on a 54-acre land, having immediate access to 3MW of power and 10MW in 12 months. The facility is located within a short distance from the international airport (15km) and university (20 km).

This Kalberg Valley data center cluster will enjoy cooling from the nearby fjord or air while Green Mountain adds that the excess heat from the facility can be sent to the district heating plant 7 km away or be used to support industries like vertical greenhouses, land-based fish farms or bio-gas production in the area.

Green Mountain is part of a consortium building a new subsea cable codenamed NO-UK cable that will connect Norway to the UK.  Scheduled to be completed in 2021, the NO-UK cable will also be part of the Euroconnect1 network connecting Norway with data center hubs across Europe such as London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Hamburg.