Data centre chief says critics cast growing industry as Mordor

Antti Poikola, head of Finland’s data centre industry association, says building data centres in Finland is better for the climate than locating them elsewhere. In an interview with Yle, he described public debate about the industry as one-sided and strongly negative.

Poikola, who is also a deputy chair of the Green Party’s council, said the scale of criticism was striking given that data centres remain relatively uncommon in Finland. He said London has five times as many as the whole of Finland, a comparison Yle described as broadly accurate while noting that London has nearly twice Finland’s population.

News of new projects has been frequent: more than one data centre project a week has been announced in Finland this year, bringing the total to over 140. Concerns about the projects have also grown, including whether municipalities set sufficiently demanding conditions for large companies.

Google’s forest clearances at data centre construction sites in Kajaani, Muhos and Hamina have been a particular focus. Questions over permits have been debated for weeks. Poikola condemns the suspected unlawful logging, according to Yle.

Poikola said some criticism was justified, including concerns that data centres’ high electricity use could increase price fluctuations. He also acknowledged that Finland’s power grid has limited capacity and said expanding it while accommodating investment and protecting the landscape was a legitimate concern.

Since taking the association’s lead role in February, Poikola has seen its membership grow by nearly 200 companies to 368. He described his work with member companies as “the Shire,” a reference to the peaceful home of the hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien’s books, while comparing the debate around the industry to Mordor, a dark and threatening stronghold. Opposition to data centres is also an international phenomenon.

Tags: data centres, Finland, energy