Sampension has announced plans to build an 8,000 square meter, 30 MW climate-focused data center in Esbjerg based on the ECO-LocaXion concept. Along with the purchase of 10 hectares of land from Esbjerg Municipality, the parties have entered into an agreement with DIN Forsyning to reuse the waste products in circular production.
The new data center will be built on a construction site in Kjersing and will be specifically designed as a climate-focused retail colocation data center. The site is planned to go into operation in 2027.
Henrik Hansen, CEO of the Danish Data Center Industry comments: "It's exciting to have a startup like ECO -LocaXion as a new player in the market. We welcome the fact that the use of surplus heat has been considered from the start, and we are excited to follow the development of this project. This project underscores the positive development the data center industry is experiencing. We expect that development to continue in the coming years."
The project is a collaboration between several actors. Sampension has invested in 10 hectares of land and is the developer, while DIN Forsyning will utilize the excess heat in the district heating network. ECO-LocaXion will be responsible for development and future operations. With this project, Esbjerg Municipality has succeeded in their vision of attracting more data centers to the city.
This announcement comes after At North announced plans to build a mega data center in nearby municipality Varde in September 2024, underscoring the growing interest for the west coast of Denmark as a data center location with access to renewable energy, powered land and potential for heat reuse.
“The news is an excellent start to the year for Esbjerg. The investment in a future data center confirms that our targeted strategy to attract data centers is bearing fruit. With access to international data connections and the supply of green, stable energy, we have created the foundation for a digital powerhouse - not just for Denmark, but for all of Northern Europe,” says Mayor Jesper Frost Rasmussen and continues: “The new jobs, some of which will certainly attract highly educated tech talents, fit perfectly into our ambitions to help shape the digital infrastructure of the future.”
This is supported by Karsten Rieder, director of Business Esbjerg: “The investment combines two major and important focus areas: attracting data centers and green transition. This data center has a vision of being one of the most climate-conscious ever. It is an extra emphasis on Esbjerg as an energy metropolis and digital hub. This is good news for the city.”
Attractive investment for sustainability and returns alike
For Sampension, the investment fits well into the pension company's strategy of seeking investments that consider sustainability while still ensuring attractive returns for pension customers:
“We are very happy to collaborate with ECO-LocaXion, Esbjerg Municipality, and DIN Forsyning on the development of this data center, where the heat can be used in the district heating network and thus not be wasted. In addition, we will focus on other sustainability considerations in the development of the data center, including reducing the climate footprint from the construction of the facility. At the same time, we see great potential in the data center segment in general, and overall, this investment case has a very attractive return potential,” says Torbjørn Lange, head of real estate and infrastructure at Sampension.
8,000 Square Meter Data Center
ECO-LocaXion, who will be responsible for the development of the data center, specializes in building climate-focused data centers. Construction will begin at the end of 2025/ beginning of 2026.
“We are happy and proud that the collaboration has come together for us as a start-up company, and that the municipality, DIN Forsyning, and Sampension have been ready to support such an economically heavy project from a very early stage. This means that we can build an 8,000 square meter, 30 MW data center, says Gitte Jensen, founder of ECO-LocaXion ApS, and continues:
“This gives us the opportunity to create a unique symbiosis between two infrastructures, namely the digital, which we belong to, and district heating, which DIN Forsyning belongs to.”
“We cater to mid-high-density customers. Our innovative concept allows us to create benefits for both the environment, society, and our customers' customers. And fortunately, the three parties have bought into this.”
Important Partnerships
Utility company DIN Forsyning supplies district heating to approximately 25,500 households in Esbjerg and Varde. They have entered into an agreement on sector coupling in a circular process between the district heating network and the data center.
“At DIN Forsyning, we have a long-term strategy to avoid waste and use society's resources wisely. Sector coupling as well as partnerships play a crucial role in making this possible, and therefore we are very happy to enter this partnership with Sampension and ECO-LocaXion to utilize the heat from the upcoming data center in our district heating network. Here we can succeed in using resources that are surplus for others, rather than having to produce district heating ourselves.”
“We expect to start receiving district heating from the data center from the end of 2027, and after a while, we will receive heat for around 1,700 households. In the long term, there is potential for the data center to be able to deliver heat equivalent to more than 5,000 households,” says Henrik H. Blicher, project manager at DIN Forsyning.
“It is an extra good signal for Esbjerg that we are not only able to attract a data center but also bring it into business development with local companies,” says Karsten Rieder, while Gitte Jensen explains that it was certainly no coincidence that they looked towards Esbjerg.
“Esbjerg is a metropolis that supports the data center industry very much. The city is conscious of being sustainable, and the infrastructure of fiber connections is good.”
See press release from Business Esbjerg here
For more information, please contact
Henrik Hansen
hh@datacenterindustrien.dk
Christine Kjær Jacobsen
+45 29 75 29 32
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