(Photo Credit: Ríkisútvarpið, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service)Reykjavik Data Center signed a power purchase agreement to utilize 100% hydro-electric and geothermal renewable energy. This deal goes toward powering the high-performance computing data center, which has clients in the financial, government, telecom, automotive, and medical sectors.
Icelandic IT company Opin Kerfi, IT service provider Reiknistofa Bankanna (RB), Vodafone Iceland, and Korputorg Real Estate collaborated on launching Reykjavik Data Center in Korputorg. Those involved in the data center say that it satisfies strict Tier III security requirements, and has a doubled up cooling and infrastructure so if one system fails, the other takes over.
The data center is located to ensure secure power security from the grid, offer efficient transport routes, and lower the risk from natural disaster, said Gísli Valur Guðjónsson, chairman of the Reykjavik Data Center board.
Under the new power purchase agreement, Iceland’s national power company Landsvirkjun will deliver electricity from their current power system to the data center. In recent years, Landsvirkjun says it has significantly increased its capacity by adding new hydropower, geothermal energy, and wind power stations.
The agreement also allows Reykjavik Data Center to issue green bonds to finance future expansions as part of its environmental focus.
Normally data centers with performance specs like the one in Korputorg would generate enormous amounts of heat, requiring energy-intensive cooling. Yet, as Technology Review’s Tryggvi Adalbjornsson pointed out, “In Iceland, however, data centers don’t need to constantly run high-powered cooling systems for heat moderation: instead, they can just let in the brisk subarctic air. Natural cooling like this lowers ongoing costs.”
