Facebook To Build Third Data Centre Outside The US In Denmark

Facebook is to open a 55,000 square metre data centre in Denmark, the third such facility it has built outside the US, which is to be powered entirely by clean energy.

It was reported last October that the social network had purchased land in Odense, the country’s third largest city, and the Danish government said the deal was the product of “three years of confidential preparation.”

“Building the technology to connect the world and bring people together is a huge challenge, and to meet that challenge we are continuing to expand our global infrastructure,” said Niall McEntegart, who heads up Facebook’s data centre operations outside the US. “We are working to make this infrastructure as efficient, flexible, sustainable as possible.

“Our new Odense facility will be one of the most advanced data centers in the world — with the latest in hyper-efficient OCP hardware and network technologies — and it will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.”

Facebook Denmark data centre

“I am very happy that Denmark has managed to attract yet another big foreign direct investment,” declared Minister for Foreign Affairs Anders Samuelsen. “Facebook’s investment is … a great example of how joint efforts can create jobs, growth and development in Denmark.”

“I am of course proud of Facebook’s investment in Odense, but this investment also represents a broad recognition of Denmark as a country that has something special to offer,” added Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt.

“We have one of the world’s best energy systems with large amounts of green energy, high energy security, speedy fibre connections and competitive energy prices. This billion kroner investment shows that we are in the top league.”

Facebook has two other data centres in Europe. It’s first is in Lulea, Sweden where a second facility is to be built, and the other is under construction in County Meath, Ireland. The Lulea data centre benefits from a cold climate that reduces cooling costs, while Facebook’s European base is in Dublin.

The company has few links to Denmark, but the country has been a popular location for US tech firms recently, with Apple building a data centre in Viborg.

Greenpeace recently gave Facebook an ‘A’ ranking for its efforts towards clean energy.

Do you know all about Green IT? Take our quiz!