Apple to build second European datacentre in Denmark later this year

Apple will start building a second, renewably-powered datacentre in Denmark later this year to provide locally-hosted access to its online services to European users, the company has confirmed.

The facility will be located in Aabenraa in southern Denmark, with construction expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017, with the first phase earmarked for completion in early 2019.

In a statement to Computer Weekly, confirming news of the build, an Apple spokesperson said the datacentre will mark a continuation of its commitment to building datacentres that run exclusively on renewable power.

“Our datacentres power billions of iMessages, answers from Siri, and song downloads from iTunes and help to ensure the fastest possible response speeds for our customers. As they all run on 100% renewable energy that means no matter how much data they handle, there is zero greenhouse gas emissions impact from their electricity use,” the company spokesperson said.

The Aabenraa site will be around 175km away from the company’s other Denmark-based datacentre in Viborg, central Jutland, which is nearing completion now.

The project is expected to generate around 300 jobs during the construction phase, and provide long-term employment for up to 100 full-time Apple staff once finished.  

Apple has already struck a deal, Computer Weekly understands, with a local energy provider to build over 30MW of wind power in Denmark to provide sufficient energy for both datacentres during their contraction and initial operation phases.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding our datacentre operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power. The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our datacentres, will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one, thanks to new clean energy sources we’re adding,” said the spokesperson.

The Viborg facility is the first datacentre Apple has built outside of the US, and was announced in February 2015, alongside the company’s plans to build another server farm in Athenry, Ireland.

At the time of writing, the company is yet to break ground on the Athenry site, as it awaits the outcome of a judicial review into the its plans to build a datacentre there.