Cheap electricity is one thing, but the biggest demand from across the world right now is for green electricity. Finland is in the fortunate position to be able to offer both.
“The Nordics in general, have been leading the pack on sustainable energy, and today the vast majority of our electricity is fully renewable, with some nuclear. But even then, nuclear is good because there are no carbon emissions. But there is very little fossil fuel-based electricity production such as that continuing in Central Europe, Poland, and even Great Britain.” explains Eero Lindqvist.
Another key advantage of cheaper energy is cheaper cooling. But, we assume, the capacity for this is greater the further you go toward the Arctic Circle, which then presents its own challenges. In fact, we’re told that nothing could be further from the truth and there are significant benefits to staying in the more populous, southern parts of the country.
“You don’t have to go to Lapland or the far north, because even the southern part of Finland can bring you over 8,000 hours of free cooling per year, and in the far north, maybe hundreds more. Up north, fiber connectivity is not as good, while variation in weather conditions tends to be larger.
“An even better opportunity is that within residential areas you can sell your excess heat. Instead of just pure cooling, you can sell the heat to the local energy company and earn extra revenue. There are at least half a dozen data centers in Finland already doing that. Better still, since 1st July 2022, data centers reselling waste heat to district heating have a lower rate of electricity tax – a deduction of two cents per kilowatt hour, which is quite substantial.” says Lindqvist.
Read the whole article by Chris Merriman, DatacenterDynamics!