A data center is being deployed in Merikarvia, Finland, as part of a district heating scheme.

The Municipality of Merikarvia and Vatajankoski Oy in April agreed to build a 1.5MW data center in Merikarvia, with the waste heat from the facility to be used in the local district heating network.

The municipality of Merikarvia acquired the now-closed sawmill from local timber firm Metsä Fibre in early March. The company had ceased operations at the mill last year. The 12-hectare site was acquired for €725,000 ($826.6m).

Merikarvia is a municipality in Finland located in the country’s western Satakunta region.

The local government is leasing part of the former sawmill site to local energy firm Vatajankoski Oy for the data center. Vatajankoski will provide the heat to Merikarvia Lämpö Oy – the municipally-owned district heating company that distributes district heating in the Merikarvia city center area.

The goal is for the data center to be producing heat on the site by early autumn 2025. According to Satakunnan Kansa, the prefabricated modular facility has already been deployed and is running – but hasn’t yet been fully connected to the heat network.

“It is great that we can offer the most suitable solution for Merikarvia’s needs. With the data center, Merikarvia’s district heating will switch almost entirely to non-combustion-based heat production at once,” said Vatajankoski production director, Lauri Hölttä.

The new facility is set to provide up to 90 percent of the network’s heating needs. Waste heat from Metsä Fibre’s sawmill operations had previously been used to produce heat for the district heating network. Since its closure, the district heat in the area has been produced using light fuel oil, which has raised energy costs. Once the data center is live, the remainder of the network’s heat requirement will initially be produced with oil, but an alternative renewable energy solution, such as solar energy, is being prepared.

“With the data center, Merikarvia’s district heating will switch almost entirely to heat production without combustion,” said Juha Vasama, Mayor of Merikarvia.

The municipality said there is also the possibility of adding another data center in the same location, which will also be able to produce heat for other tenants located in the area.

Vatajankoski deployed a 2MW data center at its power plant in Kankaanpää last year. The 12-rack project –utilizing servers from local firm E-Heat – provides around 20 percent of the local area’s district heating needs.

It’s unclear if Vatajankoski’s Merikarvia data center is also being provided by E-Heat.

Finnish real estate firm Toivo invested €2 million ($2.27m) in E-heat last year and is in the process of acquiring the company.