LUMI data centre receives Green Data Centre of the Year award

The Data Centre World Awards celebrates the people, innovations, and operations within the data center industry that have gone above and beyond to achieve outstanding excellence in the sector. It shows that the LUMI data center is a trailblazer in sustainable HPC operations on a global scale.

Sustainability in data centres is a growing demand by operators and end-users. This award recognises the efforts made to reduce emissions and demonstrate a life cycle approach of recycling and reuse, the judging panel wrote when the finalists were shortlisted.

Sustainability was one of the driving design principles for LUMI. The LUMI supercomputer uses 100% hydropower, and its waste heat accounts for up to 20% of the annual district heating needs of the city of Kajaani, having the potential to reduce 12,400 tons of CO₂ annually. The supercomputer is owned by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and hosted by the LUMI consortium, including ten European countries.

The careful planning and construction of the LUMI data centre and the ideal location in Renforsin Ranta business park in Kajaani are key to reaching our sustainability goals. Local hydroelectric power production and existing infrastructure make it a perfect place for large-scale data center investments with green ambitions. We are just using a small fraction of the area’s capacity, so I welcome other data centers to establish operations here.

There is no guarantee for awards, but you can for sure fulfill your green ambitions!, said Per Öster, Director, Advanced Computing Facility at CSC – IT Centre for Science, Finland.

The annual Data Centre World Awards took place now for the third time. Awards were given in eight categories for global data center pioneers. The two-day event gathers over 12000 participants from all over the world.

The LUMI (Large Unified Modern Infrastructure) consortium countries are Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. The LUMI consortium is a paradigm changer: the countries are investing together with the EU in a world-class supercomputer placed in one country.