As part of a new data center in the Municipality of Merikarvia, on the westcoast of Finland, a prefabricated modular facility has been deployed and is running. Merikarvia and Vatajankoski Oy agreed to build a 1,5 MW data center in Merikarvia in April. The project will enable the area to produce district heating almost entirely without combustion, significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving energy efficiency.
The data center will be on the site of the Metsä Fibre sawmill. Waste heat from the sawmill operations had previously been used to produce heat for the district heating network. Since then, district heat in the area has been produced using light fuel oil, which has raised energy costs.
Heat from the data center will, based on optimization calculations, cover 90-95 percent of the heat requirement. In this way, the waste heat from the data center will be used to produce most of the heat needed for the district heating network. The remainder will initially be produced with oil, but an alternative renewable energy solution, such as solar energy, is being prepared. In the sawmill area, the flat surfaces of warehouses can be used to place solar energy panels. Therefore, a completely non-burning energy solution is being sought for the production of district heat. The goal is that in the future, light fuel oil will only be used as a reserve.
The goal is for the data center to be producing heat on the site by early autumn. According to local newspaper Satakunnan Kansa, a prefabricated modular facility has already been deployed and is running, but hasn’t yet been fully connected to the heat network. The area has a large electrical connection from previous industries, which will enable the construction of the data center. There is also the possibility of adding another data center in the same location, which will also be able to produce heat for other tenants located in the area.
The municipality will receive rental income and savings on energy costs in accordance with the cooperation negotiations. Merikarvian Lämpö Oy buys heat and resells it to its customers, and the project will not result in significant investment costs for the company. "With the data center, Merikarvia's district heating will switch almost entirely to heat production without combustion", says Juha Vasama, Mayor of Merikarvia.
