A solar farm developer is expanding into data centers and aiming to develop a campus in Finland.

The municipality of Iisalmi this week announced that Swedish energy firm Helios Nordic Energy is planning a new data center in the Tervamäki area of ​​Iisalmi.

Full details of the project haven’t been shared, but the campus could total more than 100 hectares. The company is going through permitting with the municipality.

“Finland’s strengths for locating data centers include a safe and predictable operating environment, a reliable electricity grid, a cool climate, and high-quality telecommunications connections,” said Aleksi Aalto, project developer at Helios. “Finland has an excellent opportunity to become a leader in the industry. The need for data centers is now growing significantly, and in the current global situation, it is in the interest of all of us internet users that information about us can be processed securely on servers located in Finland.”

Iisalmi is a town and municipality in the region of North Savo in central Finland.

Fingrid Oyj’s power line runs to the west of the planned site, with the data center set to connect to Fingrid’s new Tervamäki substation planned for the area.

“Tervamäki’s large-scale data center planning project will open up a new, significant industry for the Iisalmi and Upper Savo region. If implemented, the project will bring significant investments to our region during the construction period and, most importantly, in the longer term, will create permanent jobs. Tervamäki is a natural continuation of the Vuorimäki and Rajamäki clean transition energy projects. The City of Iisalmi sees this as a desirable development for the future,” added Iisalmi Mayor Jarmo Ronkainen.

Founded in 2019, Helios Nordic Energy has more than 100 solar projects in operation and development across the Nordics. The company has been owned by VINCI Group since 2024.

DCD takes a closer look at Finland’s growing data center market in issue #60 of DCD>Magazine. Register here now to read it for free.