(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Finnish IT provider Academica recently announced it is building a data center with Helsingin Energia, an operator of Helsinki’s district heating network, that will deliver excess heat into hundreds of homes and businesses throughout the city, according to a report by Business Times.
The data center is being converted from a former bomb shelter under a cathedral.
The design of the facility is similar to that of Verne Global’s data center, converted from a former NATO command center, which is currently being built in Iceland.
Helsingin Energia’s 850-mile network is comprised of underground pipes, tunnels and pumping stations that provides hot water to 450,000 Helsinki citizens.
The city uses district heating to ensure that residents will continue to receive adequate heating throughout the city’s minus 22 Fahrenheit winters.
The district heating system uses centrally located heat and power plants to provide electricity and heat.
The system heats water to 239 F, then distributes it to thousands of homes and businesses.
Academica and Helsingin Energia will launch its pilot program this April, which will cool waste heat generated by the underground data center using sea water from the Baltic, and pump it back into the city’s district heating system.
