Microsoft has announced plans to build a new emission-free data centre region in Finland

Recently, Microsoft announced that it will build a new data center in Finland, which is of course good news for local governments, which can drive local economic development. It is expected that the project will create 11,000 new jobs. In terms of size, this is one of the largest single ICT investment projects in Finnish history and is expected to generate more than 17.2 billion euros in revenue over the next four years. Microsoft’s new data center can not only accelerate Finland’s digital transformation, help the local economy develop and create more jobs, but also provide better living security for the local residents.

According to the Yle News, Microsoft, and energy company, Fortum will not only build an energy-efficient data center but will also create the world’s largest data center waste heat recovery program. The new facility not only considers the core computing function as a hyperscale data center, but also considers environmental issues, and a series of solutions have been prepared for this purpose.

Microsoft has announced plans to build a new emission-free data centre region in southern Finland that will also have the capacity to provide district heating for Espoo, Kauniainen, and the municipality of Kirkkonummi. It is expected to meet about 40% of the heating needs of the region’s 250,000 residents. When the data center is fully operational, coupled with waste heat from wastewater treatment, 60% of the heating in the entire region will be generated by environmentally friendly waste heat.

According to Fortum, the waste heat recovery project in cooperation with Microsoft can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 400,000 tons per year.