One of the first large-scale, energy-efficient data centers opened in Estonia. The facility, which cost nearly 40 million euros, is the first of three buildings to be built in the same area, all of which will contribute to the development of e-commerce and digital societies in the Baltics. To the ordinary citizen, this means a smaller ecological footprint of data and even better access to e-services. In addition, the opening of the building complex will multiply the data hosting export potential of the region.
“Data centers are the physical foundation of our current and future digital society, without which our way of life and business activities would be unthinkable,” said Andres Sutt, minister of entrepreneurship and information technology for Estonia. “Greenergy’s top-tier and high energy efficiency data center will increase the competitiveness of the Estonian economy and will create the necessary infrastructure for the digital transformation.”
According to him, high-level digital infrastructure didn’t exist prior to this in Estonia, and the new data center will remarkably increase the competitiveness of the companies in this area. It will also create favorable conditions for foreign companies to offer their services in the Estonian or Baltic markets.
Founding Greenergy Data Centers took more than five years to get from its inception to opening, and experts from six countries participated in the process.
“The complex open[ing] conforms to all of the highest international security standards and aims at 25% higher energy efficiency than the market’s average,” said Kirk Evert, author of the idea to create the data center. “Technologically speaking, we are at the absolute top of the world.”
The first building spans 14,500 square meters. The total planned capacity of the complex is 31.5 MW — in other words, the center’s electrical connections could cover the energy needs of a small town.
Since the data center must be prepared for the unexpected and always function, every important support system of the complex is duplicated. In some places, backup systems have their own backup systems. For example, there will be as many as eight fiber optic connection cables entering the territory, and they will reach the building from four different sides.
Security fences, roadblocks, and rotating cameras with motion and heat sensors take care of the data center’s security — the entire complex is covered by a 360-camera surveillance system. Only those who are authorized will have access to the data center, which will be, among other things, ensured by biometric identification.
The Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund provided funding for building the facility.