Volkswagen Group officially opens data centre at Green Mountain’s colocation site in Norway - powered by 100% renewable energy.

Volkswagen Group and Green Mountain announce today that Volkswagen has established High-Performance Computing operations at two specifically designed data halls in Rjukan, Norway. The Norwegian minister of Trade and Industry supports the establishment and the rapid growth in the Norwegian data centre industry. 

- We support digitalization in all areas of the Volkswagen Group. With new technologies and digital forms of cooperation, there is a growing need for computing power in the company. As a result, we are constantly expanding our capacities, says Mario Müller, Head of IT Integration and Services at the Volkswagen Group. - For us, economic factors and sustainability in the company are important aspects. The new data center in Norway satisfies in both respects. The operation is cost-effective and completely climate neutral.

This contract is a result of several factors - Norway’s abundance of low-cost renewable power, the government’s beneficial framework conditions and Green Mountain’s ability to deliver high quality data centers at a rapid speed to market. - It truly demonstrate that the Data Centre Strategy is working, attracting large-scale international customers to Norway. We are extremely proud of the vote of confidence from the Volkswagen Group. says CEO of Green Mountain, Tor Kristian Gyland.

Green Mountain is a data centre company specialized in delivering high-end data centre services to demanding enterprise and wholesale customers around the world. In 2018 they announced a major investment in expanding the Rjukan site to meet a specific client’s need – now revealed to be the Volkswagen Group.

One of the main objectives of the Volkswagen Group was to establish a centre that was both sustainable and cost effective. Green Mountain’s data centres run entirely on renewable hydroelectric power with Europe’s lowest energy prices. The cold and vet climate combined with high-tech cooling solutions make it extremely energy-efficient as well.

The data halls with a capacity of 2.75 MW were completed on April 1^st after a 6-month construction phase involving prefabricated data centre modules and the great effort of several local entrepreneurs.

In future, the computing power of the new location will be used by the Volkswagen Passenger Cars and AUDI brands for their vehicle development projects. These include simulations of crash tests and virtual wind tunnel tests. Such calculations are not time critical, but very complex and energy intensive. Outsourcing them to external data centers hugely relieves the IT infrastructure at domestic locations.

This contract not only supports Norway as an up-and-coming data centre location, but also creates positive ripple effects for the local community. It is estimated that for every MW in a data centre 20 jobs are created. The Norwegian minister of Trade and Industry, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, is also enthusiastic; - Data has become a key resource for the development of business and society, and the need for data centers will only increase. Norway needs new industries that create jobs and boost economic growth. Data centres are an exciting industry that can help this to occur. I am very pleased that Volkswagen wants to establish a data centre at Green Mountain in Rjukan.