Awash In Renewable Energy, Nordics Beckon To Power-Guzzling Data Centers

Awash In Renewable Energy, Nordics Beckon To Power-Guzzling Data Centers

Thousands of servers at Facebook's data center in Lulea, in Swedish Lapland.



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High in the mountains of central Norway, snowmelt drains from white peaks and accumulates in Lake Stormyrbassenget. The icy lake water spills into a ravine and spins turbines at the Nedre Røssåga power plant, churning out zero-emissions electricity for around 100,000 households. 

This hydropower plant, one of several hundred throughout Norway and the broader Nordic region, which also includes Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, helps ensure that the Nordics have not only some of the cheapest electricity in the world but also the greenest. Some three-quarters of Sweden's electricity comes from zero-carbon sources, and an astounding 98% of Norway's. 

That's a big reason why tech companies are increasingly turning to the Nordics to build the power-guzzling data centers that house the world's rapidly growing masses of selfies, Facebook posts, pet videos, Google Docs and emails. 



The Covid-19 pandemic has turbocharged companies' green ambitions even as it has also required them to scale up their online infrastructure to cater to dramatically higher Internet use as people stay home. Few places look as good to accomplish both of