Data Center Locations: Advertorial
Finland A cool place for data centers
imported oil and coal, energy has historically been a precious commodity. “We have always taken good care of energy intensive investments and have a great deal of experience that datacenters can benefit from,” says Jussi Ojanen, Sales Director at Fortum, one of the leading energy companies focusing on the Nordic countries, Russia and the Baltic Rim area.
Varkaus papermill site: existing infrastructure and lake water cooling makes Varkaus an ideal location for both greenfield and brownfield data centers
In the 1980s, when the British comedy troupe Monty Python was affectionately
singing “Finland, Finland, Finland, the country where I want to be…”, Finland was still seen as a neglected outpost somewhere up in northern Europe. Apart from the geographic location, some changes have taken place since then. For example, a Finnish company called Nokia has made the news once or twice. And Finland has turned out to be one of the world’s leading innovation-led economies.
With Google currently constructing its most energy efficient datacenter in a former paper mill on the Finnish coast and Newsweek magazine recently declaring Finland as the best country in the world, the usually modest Finns have realised that their remote outpost is in fact an ideal location for the new generation of datacenters.
“Finland has a complete package for datacenter location that saves money, energy and the environment, so we have finally decided to start singing our own praises,” says Timo Antikainen, VP, Business Development at Invest in Finland, a government agency providing free consultancy services to international companies. “Any company looking for a sustained competitive advantage in this sector should come and see what we can offer.”
Cool country, no polar bears So why exactly does it makes sense to locate datacenters in Finland? “For a start, this is a uniquely stable and secure country with a political system that provides the kind of continuity that the rest of the planet can only dream of. We also
have green energy readily available and the price of electricity is among the lowest in Europe,” says Antikainen.
Finland’s traditional tourism profile as the home of Father Christmas and the ‘Land of a thousand lakes’ has unexpectedly turned out to be a stroke of marketing genius as far as datacenters are concerned. The cold climate, long coastline and plentiful inland water resources provide free cooling potential up to 365 days a year, significantly decreasing energy consumption
and investments. “Thanks to
existing infrastructure that can utilize the excess heat produced by servers, some datacenters located in Finland are already selling heat to their local district heating networks,” explains Antikainen.
Finland also has world class expertise in energy research, engineering and project management. Prominent companies like ABB, Fortum and Helsingin Energia know what they are doing when it comes to datacenters and energy technology. Finland’s highly skilled workforce is the product of the best education system in the world, according to almost every international comparison, including Newsweek’s.
As one of the most digitally connected countries in the world, Finland is currently fourth in the global Digital Economy Rankings by The Economist and IBM. International companies locating in Finland can also take advantage of a highly competitive package of regional funding incentives.
Reliable, cheap electricity Due to Finland’s location and dependence on
Finland’s national grid is among the most efficient in the world, with a transmission reliability of 99.9997% in 2009. Finland’s electricity price is also among the lowest in the EU. In comparison, the price of electricity for industrial consumers in Finland is about a third lower than in the UK and half the price compared to Germany.
Renewable energy sources provide 28.5% percent of Finland’s total energy consumption and account for more than a quarter of its power generation, compared to an EU average of 14%. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production are 0.24kg/kWh in Finland compared to about 0.60-0.65kg/kWh in the UK and Germany. Thanks to a combination of low-carbon electricity and lower energy consumption, datacenters located in Finland have a demonstrably lower carbon footprint than the competition.
According to IDC, datacenters’ energy and cooling expenses will grow eight times faster than the amount of money spent on purchasing new servers in 2010. The infrastructure and energy costs of a datacenter will far outweigh the cost of its IT. However, in Finland energy- guzzling datacenters are also seen as an opportunity for saving the planet. “Eco-efficient datacenters can save a considerable volume in electric energy and utilize wasted heat,” says Juha Sipilä, Project Manager at Helsingin Energia, which satisfies the electricity and heat demands of the City of Helsinki.
Eco-efficiency in action Helsingin Energia was presented with the prestigious Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Award at the Uptime Institute 2010 annual Symposium for the world’s most eco-efficient computer hall. Its innovative solution transfers recovered heat from computers to heat buildings and water
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