The world’s largest land-based trout farm will use waste heat from data center

Norwegian colocation company Green Mountain and Hima Seafood have entered into an agreement on the reuse of waste heat from the data center in the world's largest land-based trout farm. Construction starts this year and when fully operational in 2023, the waste heat will be used in the production of 9.000 tons of trout annually. Both energy consumption and carbon footprint will be significantly reduced in this sustainable project.

At Rjukan, Hima is going to establish a land-based trout farm based on recirculation aquaculture technology, also known as RAS. This technology is the most sustainable, scalable, and environmentally conscious form of aquaculture production available today. When the facility is completed and fully operational, it will produce about 9,000 tonnes of trout, which is equivalent to 22,000,000 dinners per year. This will, by far, be the world’s largest land-based trout farm.

Only 800 meters from the trout farm, Green Mountain’s DC2-Telemark is located. By connecting the two facilities together by a pipe system, Green Mountain can deliver heated water to Hima. This is energy that would otherwise be released into the air and wasted.

Heat exchanger technology will then ensure that the Hima facility can use the energy from the water to obtain the correct water temperature in their RAS solution. The same water is subsequently returned to Green Mountain. The water now holds a lower temperature which can be used in the cooling of the data center – creating a truly circular project.

Hima Seafood and Green Mountain share a strong commitment minimizing the environmental impact from its operations and recognize that this project represents a breakthrough example of circular economy in practice. “Ensuring a consistent and stable water temperature for our fish is key to producing a world-class product. Superior product quality and environmental sustainability are not just slogans for us, they are part of Hima’s DNA”, says Hima Farm Director Joe McElwee. 

Chief Executive Officer of Hima Seafood, Sten Falkum adds; «Green Mountain’s waste heat represents a significant cost savings in our production, and we are thrilled that our heating requirements can help reduce the environmental footprint of Green Mountain and help cool the data center in return. This truly is a win-win solution for both parties”.

“Data centers are undoubtably very energy consuming. Although our data centers run on 100% renewable hydropower, we do not like to waste the energy. This project is a breakthrough example of circular economy – where the output of one company can benefit another with an environmental benefit on top. Our vision is “setting the green standard” and this project truly supports this.” says CEO of Green Mountain, Tor Kristian Gyland.