Facebook eyes second Danish data centre

Facebook has acquired 212 hectares of land in Andrup, Esbjerg, Denmark to build a new data centre facility. The Esbjerg local government has given the company the green light to begin planning and surveying the land and stated that they were delighted with the development.

Mayor Frost Rasmussen of Esbjerg said that Facebook’s purchase of the land is in line with the strategy of becoming a data hub for Denmark. In addition, he noted, the new data centre will help attract more businesses to the area, benefitting the economic base.

Facebook originally looked at building a data centre in Esbjerg in 2018, but ultimately decided against it. But with the new land purchase, a data centre is in the works. Lukasz Lindell, a spokesperson for Facebook, said that the preparatory work will begin in the next few months.

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The data centre in Esbjerg will be Facebook’s second in Denmark. The existing facility is located near Odense, originally encompassing 50,000 sq metres at its 2019 launch. Soon after, the company invested $1.5 billion USD in expanding its footprint by 30,000 sq metres and increasing waste heat recycling to 165,000 MWh annually.

Facebook’s initiatives around recycling surplus heat in the data centre are aligned with new regulations surrounding this issue in Denmark. These regulations, issued by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, encourage companies of all sizes to reclaim surplus heat and divert it to be used to heat residences.

Dan Jørgensen, the Minister of Climate, said, “It may sound strange, but the refrigerated counter in the local supermarket can actually help keep the radiator warm. It makes good and green sense to reuse the heat that appliances and plants create to heat private homes.”

“This both saves resources and helps the climate,” he added. “The business community is ready, and I am really pleased with the … dialogue that has taken place through our climate partnership.”

Under the waste heat recycling regulation, a price ceiling will be set for the reuse of surplus heat. This price ceiling will be set annually, to maintain flexibility, but smaller companies that generate surplus heat capacity under 0.25 MW will be exempt from price regulation.