An information heart below building in an Armenian gorge goals to maintain its carbon footprint low by making the most of naturally cool temperatures and domestically sourced spring water.
When Jap European know-how firm VSDATA launches its new facility on the finish of the 12 months, it should be part of a rising variety of digital infrastructure corporations that capitalize on distinctive climatic traits for pure cooling.
Constructing the power in a gorge within the South Caucasus – the place the air temperature stays 5°C decrease than the encircling areas – will cut back cooling overheads. This infrastructure will host 125 racks, and colocation companies will begin in 2026.
“At present, VSDATA has no shoppers, however efforts to draw them are underway,” stated spokesperson Diana Pavlovets.
There could also be cause for the corporate to be optimistic: Armenia’s information heart market has been growing rapidly, spurred by benefits inherent to its local weather and supported by each authorities and finance.
By specializing in sustainability, VSDATA can be interesting to an business that has been grappling with how you can responsibly meet its power calls for. Pure cooling is rising as one answer.
“It’s potential to steadiness computing energy enlargement with carbon discount whereas considerably decreasing operational prices,” stated Shen Wang, principal analyst at Omdia. “That isn’t solely a query of being ‘eco-friendly’,” Wang stated. “In the long run, adopting a low-carbon method will yield higher financial and social advantages for the information heart business whereas making a significant contribution to world sustainable improvement.”
A Temporary Historical past of Naturally Cooled Information Facilities
Whereas building is underway on VSDATA’s new information heart, different tasks make the most of distinct climatic options to scale back their carbon footprint.
Staying true to its title, Inexperienced Mountain’s first information heart, SVG-Rennesøy (also called DC1-Stavanger), is a novel Tier III licensed information heart in a former high-security NATO ammunition storage facility inside a mountain.
Equally, Bluebird Fiber operates an underground information heart in a limestone cavern in Springfield, Missouri. The subterranean facility is claimed to supply a variety of benefits, together with enhanced safety, environmental advantages, and optimized power effectivity.
Final 12 months, we reported that building had begun on a 5 MW information heart situated in an lively mine within the Italian Alps.
