Vattenfall launches pilot data centre project to offer sustainable compute capacity

Vattenfall and Cloud&Heat Technologies have started a strategic partnership with a joint sustainable data centre pilot project to deliver fossil free, reliable high-speed computing capacity. The data centre, outside Stockholm, is equipped with high-end servers to cater for Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing applications and designed to offer high performance, security, and direct utilization of excess heat in the adjacent district heating plant process for highest sustainability.

The new data centre consists of two data centre containers located at Vattenfall’s biomass-fired district heating plant in Jordbro, south of Stockholm. Vattenfall provides the infrastructure and the secured site space, Cloud&Heat Technologies runs the operations, contributing together to a CO2-free computing process.

“The demand for high-performance and low-cost computing capacity is increasing rapidly, especially for Internet of Things & Artificial Intelligence applications. Our new data centre at our pilot site in Sweden is ready for operation for customers expecting cost-efficient, reliable, and fossil free computing capacity,” says Birger Ober, Project Manager at Vattenfall.

The service provided by Cloud&Heat Technologies is a full-service Machine-Learning/Artificial intelligence stack.

“Cloud&Heat Technologies provides energy-efficient, scalable, and secure tailored high-density infrastructure solutions, which meet the requirements of the future. Vattenfall’s expertise and Cloud&Heat’s technology allowed the erection of a water-cooled data centre that emits zero CO2 during its operation and in addition, is directly integrated in Vattenfall’s heat network for direct heat reuse,” says Dr.Jens Struckmeier, CTO at Cloud&Heat Technologies.

Given the increasing importance and demand of green IT, Cloud&Heat Technologies and Vattenfall aim at enhancing this project and providing more prospecting solutions to promote further sustainable data infrastructures.