Ballangen, Norway, located about 140 miles north of the Arctic Circle, will be home to the largest data center in the world when it completes construction in 2018. Ballangen was selected because of Norway’s abundance of green energy, cool climate, large technical workforce, and its access to international high-performance fiber in neighboring Sweden. The site’s secure, moated property was also a deciding factor in selecting Ballangen, according to Kolos, the American and Norwegian company behind the data center.
The green facility is within 25 kilometers of a huge amount of excess hydropower that will allow the data center to scale up to two gigawatts of consumable renewable power, which is more than any other data center location in the world. The use of wind energy will also help the facility achieve its goal of being powered by 100% sustainable energy.
Rendering courtesy of HDR.
The 600,000-sm, climate-cooled Kolos facility will be powered by hydropower and will scale beyond 1,000 megawatts of computing power. High-speed traffic to continental Europe and as far off as the United States’ east coast will be routed from the Kolos node through the Swedish high-performance fiber.
HDR designed the four-story data center along a central spine with the building forms arranged to mimic a glacier’s movement as it displaces swaths of land. At the base of the spine are modules, or data halls, that are secure, scalable, and connected. At the terminus on the water, the spine becomes a public space clad in copper and acts as the gateway to the public waterfront promenade. HDR says the alluvial fans, glaciers, and mountains that surround the site inspired the design of the overall data center.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 2, 2023
Top 60 Data Center Engineering Firms for 2023
Jacobs, Burns & McDonnell, WSP, EXP, and Alfa Tech head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest data center sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 2, 2023
Top 30 Data Center Architecture Firms for 2023
Corgan, HDR, Gensler, Page Southerland Page, and HED top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest data center sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Data Centers | Sep 21, 2023
North American data center construction rises 25% to record high in first half of 2023, driven by growth of artificial intelligence
CBRE’s latest North American Data Center Trends Report found there is 2,287.6 megawatts (MW) of data center supply currently under construction in primary markets, reaching a new all-time high with more than 70% already preleased.
Data Centers | Sep 15, 2023
Power constraints are restricting data center market growth
There is record global demand for new data centers, but availability of power is hampering market growth. That’s one of the key findings from a new CBRE report: Global Data Center Trends 2023.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 115 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2023
Stantec, HDR, Page, HOK, and Arcadis North America top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
2023 Giants 400 Report: Ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
A record 552 AEC firms submitted data for BD+C's 2023 Giants 400 Report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 175 Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, HKS, Perkins&Will, Corgan, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Market Data | Aug 1, 2023
Nonresidential construction spending increases slightly in June
National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1% in June, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Spending is up 18% over the past 12 months. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.07 trillion in June.
Data Centers | Apr 14, 2023
JLL's data center outlook: Cloud computing, AI driving exponential growth for data center industry
According to JLL’s new Global Data Center Outlook, the mass adoption of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) is driving exponential growth for the data center industry, with hyperscale and edge computing leading investor demand.
Sustainability | Apr 4, 2023
NIBS report: Decarbonizing the U.S. building sector will require massive, coordinated effort
Decarbonizing the building sector will require a massive, strategic, and coordinated effort by the public and private sectors, according to a report by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
