Local Host’s data-center cooling technology siphons icy water from 984 feet below the surface of Norway’s Nordfjord.
Now the start-up hopes the system will power the world’s largest green data center, which it wants to build in an abandoned mine.
The company already attracted the attention of IBM and Tandberg. Next it plans to reach out to Google and Microsoft for the $100 million it needs to complete the project.
Local Host CEO Sindre Kvalheim's goal is the world's largest high security green data center
Local Host CEO Sindre Kvalheim says his goal is to build “the world’s largest, high security green data center.” There are reasons to think he might succeed. The central coast Sogn og Fjordane region of Norway has an abundance of cheap hydro-electric and wind power to run racks of energy-hungry servers.
It also has an endless supply of freezing water in the 66-mile-long fjord, Norway’s sixth longest. “We can cool a data center more efficiently that any where else in the world,” said Kvalheim, who disclosed details of the project for the first time outside of Norway at the Nordic Green II conference. “We know it’s not only doable, it’s feasible.”
The company has been testing its cooling system for two years at a small, 20-rack data center it runs in Maloy, Norway. “We have reduced our power costs by 50 percent” by eliminating the need for an electric chiller to cool the servers, says Kvalheim. The salt water brought from the depths of the fjord is 45 degrees and cools less corrosive fresh water, which circulates among the computers. The fjord water remains pressurized and requires little energy to pump.
Local Host began studying the underground site in October and expects to complete a feasibility study in June. Kvalheim is convinced the findings will be encouraging.
But the challenges facing the project are significant. IBM has funded 10 percent of the feasibility study and the Norwegian government kicked in 50 percent. Finding $100 million in construction costs are beyond the means of the tiny company. That has Kvalheim eager to approach Internet giants Google and Microsoft.
He says the 1.4 million square foot center will have six stories with tunnels and roads for customers to haul in trailer-truck sized portable data centers. The abandoned olivine mine could fit between 2,000 and 3,000 of the portable units, which Kvalheim says he will build, even though vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and Sun offer commercial models.
Construction could start in 2011, with the demand for data intensive Internet services only expected to increase in the years to follow. As the world learns to cope with the need for greater energy efficiency, green centers are likely to draw increasing interest from the online titans of the coming decade. In Kvalheim’s view, that means harnessing the frigid water of a Norwegian fjord.
