Sweden to open world's first carbon-negative data centre

What has been described as the world’s first carbon-negative data centre – which results in carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere – is set to open in central Sweden later this year.

The pioneering facility, developed by Swedish data centre developer EcoDataCenter, will work by using surplus heat generated by the local district heating networks in Falun, central Sweden, and a wood pellet factory to cool the facility during warmer months. 

The new 1.9 MW centre – set to open in autumn – comes at an important time. Increasing digitalisation could see data processing at data centres accounting for one-fifth of the world’s total energy use by as early as 2025, according to some estimates. 

Booming technological innovation – spurred by fast-growing 5G connectivity, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence – are expected to drive the rise in the energy consumption of data centres. According to internet analyst Gartner, there will be more than 20bn connected objects by 2020 – which some experts predict could increase to 100bn as early as 2025.

Data centres, which currently contribute to up to 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to a report by the European Commission, are a major source of energy consumption. They comprise large volumes of data servers which use vast amounts of energy – a significant portion of which goes towards cooling them during operation.

Lars Schedin, CEO of EcoDataCenter, said: ‘the technical design of the data centre will be a crucial issue going forward, since it has a tremendous impact on both environment and costs, and we see a very large market for our technology.’

Lars Thunell, Chairman of EcoDataCenter’s Board of Directors, added: ‘we are... counting on the need to build a large number of facilities of this type, both in Sweden and abroad, to successfully meet interest and demand.’

Due to its low energy prices, Sweden has become an increasingly attractive country for investments in new data centres, with major companies, including Facebook and Google, having earmarked plans for two new centres in the country’s Norrbotten and Dalarna regions respectively.