🇮🇸 atNorth announces heat reuse partnership with Kesko Corporation

The business has also signed an agreement with Finnish electricity distributor, Caruna, securing the power supply to its FIN02 data center and exemplifying the role of data centers in power stability and Finland’s circular economy.

atNorth, the leading Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence service provider, today announced its latest heat reuse partnership as part of its continued dedication to responsible operations.

The partnership with one of Finland’s leading retailers, Kesko Corporation will enable waste heat from atNorth’s FIN02 data center in Sinimäki, Espoo, to be recycled as heating for the neighboring Kesko store. The heat provided will cover almost all of the heating energy required by Kesko’s site and in turn support Kesko’s goal of a 50 percent reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, a large portion of which results from the heating of its buildings.

The arrangement will enhance atNorth’s energy efficiency and reduce Kesko’s emissions from district heating use, decreasing the carbon footprint of both businesses and contributing to Finland’s circular economy.

“One of the key goals of our ambitious sustainability strategy is to reduce CO2 emissions resulting from the heating of our properties”, says Antti Kokkonen, Kesko’s Director of Energy. “By collaborating with atNorth in just one store, we reduce Kesko’s emissions from district heating use by 0.9 percent, saving approximately 200tCO2 equivalent per year. This corresponds to the annual consumption of about 120 district-heated detached houses – as an individual project, this is one of our most significant CO2 reduction initiatives this year.”

atNorth has also entered into an agreement with Caruna Espoo Oy to provide access to 45MW of reliable power for its FIN02 data center. atNorth’s investment in Espoo supports Caruna’s continual development and modernization of its power infrastructure for the benefit of the whole area.

“Data centers play an important role in the long-term resilience of Finland’s power infrastructure and its economic growth as a whole”, says Kosti Rautiainen, EVP Customers and New Ventures at Caruna. “atNorth’s investment in Espoo supports the development of a carbon-free energy system through innovative heat reuse partnerships and promotes local employment opportunities. We are delighted to play our role in this data center ecosystem for the benefit of our community.”

“We are pleased to showcase beneficial collaborations that support our vision of data center ecosystems that fundamentally contribute to the communities in which we operate”, says Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO atNorth. “By collaborating with likeminded businesses, we can not only mitigate our own carbon consumption but assist others too. At the same time, supporting the investment in local power networks facilitates long term power availability that benefits the local community as a whole”.

atNorth has been investing in Finland since early 2023 when it acquired two data centers from Advania, FIN01 and FIN03, that are strategically located metro sites within Helsinki’s digital landscape. Since then, the business has been developing two additional data centers, the FIN02 site in Sinimäki, Espoo that became operational in April , and FIN04 a ‘mega site’ in Kouvola, that is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.

Originally published on 14 April by atNorth.

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