Edora and Eurowind Energy want to establish data centers in Danish wind and solar energy parks. By placing the data centers where the energy is produced, both waste and costs are reduced. The project, which also includes Aalborg University, is to demonstrate a more sustainable model for digital infrastructure.
Danish IT company Edora and energy company Eurowind Energy have entered into a forward-looking collaboration to establish the first of a series of decentralized data centers directly in a Danish energy park with wind, solar and batteries. By placing the data center where the energy is produced, both waste and costs are reduced – and a new green standard for digital infrastructure in Europe is created.
The project will serve as a proof-of-concept for a new way of thinking about data center operations and energy supply. In this context, Aalborg University contributes algorithms that distribute calculations between the individual data centers in relation to current and expected future green energy production.
"With the general development of the IT area and especially with the AI revolution, the development of data centers is facing massive growth and thus gigantic energy consumption. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial that data centers are located and operated in a way that they optimally utilize green energy production," explains Professor Jakob Stoustrup at Aalborg University.
Wind and solar power data center supporting latest AI technology
The data center, which will be located in the energy park, supports the latest AI technologies, making it ideal for training advanced language models and Enterprise AI. The power consumption is designed to be 2-10 MW, while the traditional diesel-based emergency power system is completely eliminated in favor of a battery with green emergency power.
The plan is for the data center to be located in an energy park in Jutland, where it will be connected directly to the energy park, which consists of:
• 3 wind turbines of 3.6 MW
• 12 hectares of solar cells (approx. 8 MW)
• Battery storage (BESS) of 10.8 MW / 43.2 MWh distributed over 10 containers
Green electricity without detours
Locating the data center directly in the energy park makes perfect sense, both economically and from a climate perspective. Because when the electricity is used where it is produced, the parties avoid both unnecessary tariffs and the energy loss that would otherwise occur if the electricity were transported over longer distances.
"We see great potential in rethinking data center infrastructure based on local, renewable energy production. This project hits the mark on all agendas: ESG, resilience, low-cost operation and is the next step towards a new standard for green digitalization," says Mads Hedegaard, CEO of Edora, and continues: "Together with Edora Public Cloud, we are getting closer and closer to the goal of the EU and Denmark being able to stand on their own two feet."
The goal of the project is to create a scalable model where data centers and renewable energy go hand in hand for the benefit of both the climate and the digital infrastructure of the future.
“For us, it’s about bringing energy production and consumption closer together. It reduces waste and creates new business models where green power becomes an integrated part of digital solutions,” says Jeppe Udby, CDO at Eurowind Energy.
Data center can strengthen digital independence in the EU
As part of the project, the new data center will support both Enterprise AI, Edora Cloud and Managed IT services. In addition, capacity will also be opened up to other data center operators who want a more sustainable profile. According to Mads Hedegaard, the ambition is to offer a much more efficient and green data center operation that addresses both climate and geopolitical challenges.
“We must be able to do it ourselves in the EU. We must end up depending on individual companies on the other side of the Atlantic,” he explains, adding that the solution can also help support countries such as Ukraine with decentralized computing capacity.
