Finland: Remov announces 7.2MW heat-sharing data center

Remov has announced it is set to begin work on the construction of a new 7.2MW data center. The facility will be powered entirely by renewable energy, have a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.1, an "energy flow ratio" of 1.0, and will recover 96 percent of its waste heat. According to the company, the facility will create a "carbon-negative data center ecosystem."

Further to this, the captured waste heat will be shared with the city of Seinäjoki, through a district heating system run by the local utility Seinäjoki Energy. The Finnish data center developer shared that the heat energy captured could cover a large part of the city's warmth needs. 

Set to be built by Rittal, the project has support from the city of Seinäjok, its utility company Seinäjoki Energia, and the Finnish Government; construction is pegged to start before the end of 2023. 

As DCD highlighted, the data center details are similar to a plan announced by Seinäjoki back in June 2021. That facility featured the same partners and sustainability claims. In June 2021, Seinäjoki shared that "the world's most modern and environmentally friendly data center" would be built there by the end of 2022. It also made similar promises regarding heat recovery. It was recently confirmed that it is the same project. 

Previously speaking on the project, Vesa Hätilä, CEO of Seinäjoen Energia said: "The useful heat of the data center would initially produce about a tenth of the district heat needed by Seinäjoki, and in the future even about a third of the heat needs. The heat from the data center would heat all the small houses on Seinäjoki within the district heating area, and there would still be some leftover."