Sustainable future

Kajaani, the green home of LUMI

Reducing CO₂ emissions is a globally critical target, on which the location of the EuroHPC machines has a huge impact, as supercomputers consume plenty of electricity. CSC’s data center in Kajaani, the home of LUMI, is one of the most eco-efficient data centers in the world. The data center has an abundant supply of low-price and environmentally-friendly renewable power: LUMI’s energy consumption is covered with power produced 100% with renewable electricity. The benefits of the location also include close proximity and easy connectivity to the district heating network: waste heat utilisation further reduces costs and CO₂ footprint. LUMI’s waste heat is used to heat up hundreds of households annually in the city of Kajaani.

LUMI was ranked third on the Green500 list, published on 30 May 2022, and seventh on the Green500 list on 14 November 2022, 22 May 2023 and 13 November 2023.

Read also:

LUMI Receivers Honors in 2023 HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards

LUMI data center receives the Green Data Center of the Year award

LUMI Receives Honors in 2022 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards

LUMI won the Best Sustainability Innovation in HPC award at the 2021 HPC Wire Readers’ and Editors’ choice awards

Why is the CSC Kajaani data center an ideal place for supercomputers?

• Renforsin Ranta Business Park has ready-built electrical infrastructure of up to 230 MW and an on-site national grid connection with access to hundreds of MWs more
• Abundant sources of 100% renewable, carbon-neutral energy
• Free cooling is possible all year round
• Possibility to utilize waste heat in the district heating network of Kajaani
• Extremely reliable power grid
• Kajaani is an operator-neutral location and part of the Nordic research network. The area has multiple physical connectivity routes and is perfectly positioned for the “Far North Fibre project”
• High security and safety standards
• Fenced Renforsin Ranta business park offers ideal physical security with no natural risks & hazards for data center operations

Have a look at the video: CSC’s sustainable data center in Kajaani, Finland, below and visit the CSC website for more information.

Leveraging the location

Finland is one of the best locations for data centers since it has low operating costs, safe environmental and political conditions as well as extremely high security status. Here are some of the key factors that give Finland its competitive edge:

• Total electricity cost for industries is one of the lowest in Europe
• Pioneer in telecommunication and internet technologies
• Ranked as the most stable and sustainable country in the world
• Ranked as the safest place for data centers in the EU and 4th safest in the world
• One of the safest and most reliable environments for storing and processing data
• Finland and Kajaani are low-risk areas in terms of geographical and weather risks