Danish renewable energy developer Eurowind Energy has partnered with Danish IT services provider Edora to develop a data center within a renewable energy park in Jutland, Denmark.

The pilot project will see the partners build a data center within the confines of the Eurowind Energy Park. The park consists of three wind turbines with a capacity of 3.6MW, 12 hectares of solar cells with a capacity of 8MW, and a battery energy storage system (BESS), with a capacity of 10.8MW/43.2MWh distributed across ten containers.

The data center will have a capacity of between two and 10MW, with the BESS acting as the backup system, displacing traditional diesel generators. The development timeline of the project was not shared. DCD has reached out for further information.

“We see great potential in rethinking data center infrastructure based on local, renewable energy production. This project hits the mark on all agendas: ESG, resilience, low-cost operation, and is the next step towards a new standard for green digitalization,” said Mads Hedegaard, CEO of Edora. “Together with Edora Public Cloud, we are getting closer and closer to the goal of the EU and Denmark being able to stand on their own two feet.”

The goal of the pilot is to act as a proof of concept for future deployments. Ultimately, the partners aim to create a scalable model where data centers can be developed in conjunction with clean energy systems.

“For us, it’s about bringing energy production and consumption closer together. It reduces waste and creates new business models where green power becomes an integrated part of digital solutions,” said Jeppe Udby, CDO at Eurowind Energy.

The new data center will support enterprise AI, Edora Cloud, and managed IT services. It will also be opened up to other data center operators seeking a more sustainable option. For Hedegaard, the ultimate ambition is to offer an efficient and green data center option that addresses both climate concerns and geopolitical challenges.

“We must be able to do it ourselves in the EU. We must [not] end up depending on individual companies on the other side of the Atlantic,” he explained.

Eurowind currently owns and operates more than 1.3GW of wind and solar energy parks. As of July 2024, it has a development portfolio exceeding 53GW of capacity. The deal with Edora is the first within the data center market.

Several firms have explored the possibility of collocating data centers within renewable energy parks. Last year, Amazon Web Services announced it was set to develop data centers at a renewable energy business park in County Offaly, Ireland.