The Norwegian colocation provider, Green Mountain, recently opened their latest expansion at their DC1-Stavanger data center. Green Mountain designed, constructed, and delivered to client a 2.5 MW data hall inside one of the mountain halls in less than 9 months. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the project was delivered on time, on budget and on quality to a large international cloud provider. Green Mountain continues to grow rapidly and experience a massive interest from international clients.
From mountain cave to data center
The starting point of the expansion project was essentially a hole in the mountain with no basic infrastructure. This mountain cave has been transformed into a fully operational data center space, complete with interiors, cooling, power, and security - all within the time span of 9 months.
The size of the completed mountain hall, including infrastructure in the tunnels, is about 1800 square meters. The power capacity in this data hall is 2.5 MW but a project to double this to 5 MW is already started and will be ready for service early next year. As with all Green Mountain data centers, it runs on 100% renewable hydropower. Cooled by the award-winning fjord cooling solution which obtains a constant PUE throughout the whole year at below 1.15.
Covid-19 challenges
Not only did building inside a mountain add complexity to the project, the Covid-19 situation also made the process challenging. During the most hectic construction phase, 150 workers were on site, managing to perform their tasks within a strict Covid-19 control regime. CX commissioning and RFS was conducted remotely using digital tools.
Still strong growth
This expansion supports Green Mountain’s expansive growth strategy. “We continue to experience a surge in demand for our sustainable colocation services. Especially the larger cloud service clients rely on us for fast buildouts in a market where the demand for their cloud services accelerates.” says CEO of Green Mountain, Tor Kristian Gyland. The company’s revenue today is 4 times higher than in 2017 and the majority of new contracts are signed with international clients. “We have already started yet another expansion project for the same client and we are actively working to find new locations for growth. The most promising area right now is the Kalberg valley on the western coast of Norway but later this fall we will also open our third data center site ” Gyland continues. The new site is located in Enebakk, just 20 km outside Oslo, the capital of Norway. The site is perfectly situated in terms of power supply, infrastructure, and connectivity close to Norway’s most populated area.
