Norway's newest data center began to be built in a former mine. The Lefdal Mine Datacenter it could become the largest data center in the world when three of the five levels work.
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Lefdal Mine Data center Huge space
The abandoned mine that will house the Leacdal Mine Datacenter was originally used to extract olivine, iron magnesium silicate. The installation of the data center is located on six levels, with halls up to 16 meters high. It is accessible via underground "avenues" and "roads" that are complicated.
The maximum possible space is 120.000 square meters. The Statue of Liberty, the Boeing 737, the truck and the car at the bottom right of the picture show the colossal scale of the facility.
Modular design
The main idea of the data center is to offer an extremely modular design. Servers and networks are built into shelves, which are placed in standard 40 foot containers and containers are stacked up in the top three halls. Later, more rooms will be added.
First phase
In the first phase of the installation Lefdal Mine Datacenter added the 45MW power cooling plant to the third level of the mine. The coolant is seawater pumped from depth 500 meters from the outer fjord.
Low PUE
The topology of cooling has dimensions that support up to 5kW per shelf. The company guarantees that the installation's energy efficiency (PUE) will never exceed 1,15, and its calculations indicate a floating PUE between 1,08 and 1,15 in the data center.
High security
As the facility is located within a mine, it is easy to ensure a high level of security. This image shows how to enter the data center when installation is complete. The containers next to the access building are for an emergency diesel generator for the production of alternative power.
Level Input
This image shows the entrance from the spiral access path to the third level of the installation. Dimensions allow trailers to deliver the data center containers directly to the facility. Leaddal Mine Datacenter is in the process of acquiring the Uptime Institute Tier III certification that is expected to succeed this year.
Access Avenue
The main access road, or avenue, is 300 meters carved in the mountain. The avenue intersects with the hall where the actual data center premises are located.
Industrialization
This picture shows one of the "mountainous" areas with giant shelves for 40-foot containers. Lefdal Mine Datacenter plans to set up the machinery off-site and then simply transport it to the mine to be connected to power, networking and cooling. Lefdal Mine Datacenter calls this approach "data center industrialization".
Networking
Although Norway's Northwest coastline sounds far from everything, Lefdal Mine Datacenter promises that its network performance will be extremely satisfying.
17 millimeter-second travel delays in London and 21 in Amsterdam are achieved through partnerships with fiber-optic providers with cables crossing the North Sea.
High density
When the mine operates as a data center it will be completely filled, and it will become one of the largest datacenter facilities on the planet. According to current standards, it will become the largest in the world if three of the five levels are completed.
Due to the large amount of local hydroelectric power generation exceeding 350MW, Lefdal Mine Datacenter says the mine will be "the greenest data center in Europe, if not the world".
