Iceland's Geothermal-Powered Data Center Gets Funding
from the data-center-location-is-always-greener dept
Iceland has been looking to bring large data center investments to its shores for some time now, and it has recently secured funding for a 44-acre data center campus that will be built on the former NATO Command Center in Keflavik, Iceland. The companies behind this data center boast that Iceland has 100% free cooling, renewable energy resources and predictable forecasting of energy pricing. Additionally, Verne Global says this installation will be powered by geo-thermal and hydroelectric resources, and thereby it’ll become the industry’s first carbon neutral wholesale data center.
But some folks bring up the usual concerns about data center locations — will it have enough bandwidth, is the local job market flush with proficient IT engineers, where’s the back-up if there’s an earthquake? Well, it looks like Iceland has plenty of bandwidth, but it also has real earthquake threats — with a 6.1 earthquake that occurred in 2008 (not to mention a 2004 volcano eruption). So maybe Iceland isn’t ideal, but the country presently has more power generation capacity than it can consume by itself domestically — and the energy in Iceland is “green” in terms of carbon emissions. But will that be enough to attract large data center investments? Would you rely on an Icelandic data center for your business? Would you move to Iceland to oversee a data center?
Comments on “Iceland's Geothermal-Powered Data Center Gets Funding”
Risk and isolatoin
As a business man I would move my datacenter to such a place as Iceland keeping in mind that the energy is borderline free, and because of the economical and currency difficulties that they are going through back home then there is value for money in labour as well with very qualified experts.
About the risks of earthquake, the big one in 2008 @ 6,1 richter scale was att that size at the epicenter not where the USA military base is placed. That strenght of a quake has not been felt there for decades upon decades (not counting the on of 4,2 in 1999). Baring in mind that the whole of silicon valley is built on an earthquake area. That aint a very good argument 🙂
The volcano eruption that happened in 2004 was a small one in south center of the country, you had to drive for 4 hours to get a glimpse of the spectacle. Therefore the positioning could be placed in a spot that is in the lower risk of catastrophic consequences.
Having answered the “bad things” there is the thought of moving to Iceland for people from bigger countries, thought of isolation and so forth. Having lived there for the bigger part of my life I know what you mean. But then again there is always the possibility to take the first flight outathere again.
I say take a chance, be the first, be a frontrunner!
IT services
Query: how about – “you use my energy and you get your IT for free”?
Not sure
At this moment as parts of Iceland rocked by powerful eruptions as I read this article.