European data center developer Verne has announced plans to use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to power backup generators at its London data center in Farringdon.

The transition to HVO fuel will displace the use of diesel at the site and is being carried out in partnership with Crown Oil, a Manchester-based fuels and lubricants distribution company.

According to the company, the switch will have a considerable impact on the emission profile of the data center, cutting up to 90 percent of net CO2 emissions from the generators. The reduction in CO2 means that the company will no longer require a greenhouse gas permit.

HVO, also known as renewable diesel, is produced from “renewable” raw materials, including animal fats from the food sector and used cooking oils. It acts as a drop-in replacement for diesel and can be deployed without modifications to the existing generation units. It also has the ability to be blended with diesel and is suitable for use across both cold and warm weather climates.

Verne has made a firm commitment to reducing the CO2 footprint of its data center operations, with the use of HVO seen as a crucial step.

The decision follows a similar partnership in Finland last year. In October, Verne partnered with Neste Oyj, which will supply HVO to all of Verne’s Finnish data centers. Verne currently has three operational facilities in the country: a 50MW center in Helsinki, an 11MW center in Pori, and a colocation facility in Tampere.

Verne was formed in September 2022, following a merger between London-based Volta Data Centres and Icelandic developer Verne Global. Volta was acquired by Triple Point’s Digital 9 Infrastructure (D9) – the parent company of Verne Global – in April of 2022. The deal saw the 91,000 square foot (8,450 sqm), 6MW facility fall under the Verne brand.

HVO is becoming increasingly popular amongst data center operators within the European market. In recent years, AWS in Sweden, Vantage in Wales, and Stack Infrastructure in Norway have all adopted the fuel for use in their backup generation units.