Google Data Centre’s Excess Heat to Warm Finnish Homes

Google has opened its first offsite heat recovery project in Finland, following the multinational corporation and technology giant’s commitment to creating a carbon-free future.

Using excess heat from its data centre in Hamina, Google will transform the facility into both a hub for digital information and a source of sustainable heat for the people of Hamina.

Google’s wider energy re-use plans at Hamina

Google will recover heat from the data centre, which currently operates with carbon-free energy at 97% and be passed on to the Finnish heating network, completely free of charge.

The Hamina data centre’s sustainability credentials also mean the recovered heat will be 97% carbon free, and will represent 80% of the annual heat demand of the local district heating network, Haminan Energia says.

“Google and the city of Hamina have a long and flourishing history together,” said Ilari Soosalu, Mayor of Hamina. “Google is an excellent example of a company with strong sustainable future orientation. It feels good to be the hometown of Google in Finland.”

“This project is a great example of how we’re constantly striving to find new ways to increase the sustainability of our operations," said Kate Brandt, Google Chief Sustainability Officer, who came in second on Sustainability Magazine’s Top 100 Women 2024.  

As present, heat from Google’s Hamina data centre has been captured and recovered to heat the offices and buildings on site.

This will expand in 2025, when it is hoped that the heat coming from the data centre will be used to optimise the district heating network energy efficiency and carbon emissions footprint. 

The project helps to bring Google closer to achieving this goal while also supporting Finland’s long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability and technological innovation. 

“Very proud to announce Google’s first heat recovery project and an additional €1bn (US$1.1bn) investment at our data centre campus in Hamina, Finland,” said Ben Townsend, Google Head of Infrastructure & Sustainability. “Building community partnerships that advance a circular economy is a key success factor on our journey to net zero.”

Finland’s UpCloud is aims to achieve top performance, data security and sovereignty

Finland is leading the charge for data centres. Cloud service provider UpCloud offers the world’s fastest cloud servers, on an hourly billed infrastructure-as-a-service. 

UpCloud recently made a huge move in the cloud services industry, by launching a new pricing model – unlimited free outbound traffic for its cloud services, which will redefine cost management and scalability across cloud computing.

Developers told UpCloud that they were tired of micromanaging data transfers to avoid unpredictable and sky-high fees, which UpCloud felt was inline with its mission.

“This isn’t just an advancement; it’s a revolution,” said Founder and CTO, Joel Pihlajamaa. “Unlimited egress represents our pledge to empowering developers and businesses with true freedom and flexibility.”

Customers trust UpCloud with its high performance, reliability and cost effective pricing. With UpCloud, customers can get a reliable production environment and advance their business, with the majority of key customer segments working across managed hosting, IT services, eCommerce, SaaS and PaaS.

Read more here.

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