Another data center project has been announced in Finland.

The municipality of Kontiolahti this week announced that Finnish construction firm YIT is planning to develop a data center in the new Vellamo business area.

Kontiolahti is a municipality in the North Karelia region in the east of Finland, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Joensuu.

A city plan is currently being prepared for the municipality-owned land area located in the southern part of Lehmo to allow for the development of a 25-hectare campus.

Full details of the project haven’t been shared.

“The domestic operator YIT was selected as a contract partner based on its reliability and industry knowledge. Of course, YIT was also active in the matter. They want to be involved in developing the vitality of the area and creating the conditions for something new,” said Tommi Hirvonen, technical director of the Municipality of Kontiolahti.

Juho Siitonen, director of data centers at YIT. Said that the Joensuu region is an attractive area for data center projects, and there is potential to utilize the data center’s waste heat in both the Kontiolahti and Joensuu heating networks.

“In the coming months, we will take our investigation work to a more detailed level, and hopefully, within a year, we will have construction planning underway,” he said.

Founded in 1912, YIT is the largest Finnish construction company. Last year, YIT announced plans to develop a data center project on 45 hectares in the Hepomäki area of Kuopio, the regional capital of North Savo in central Finland.

Most of Finland’s data centers are located in the country’s capital, Helsinki. But Finland’s environment, abundant land, and cheap green energy have attracted increasing numbers of data center developers, with the Finnish Data Center Association estimating that live capacity in the country will increase from 285MW in 2025 to 1.5GW in 2030.

Established operators, including the likes of Verne, Equinix, and atNorth, have a presence in Finland, while new entrants such as Polarnode, FCDC, Arcem, and Hyperco are planning multiple developments across the country. International operators, including QTS, Prime, Pure, and DayOne, are also looking to develop in Finland.