Our first offsite heat recovery project lands in Finland
Starting next year, our Hamina data center, nestled on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, is going to be both a hub for digital information and a source of sustainable heat for the district. In partnership with city-owned energy provider Haminan Energia, we are kicking off our first offsite heat recovery project to reduce our environmental footprint, as well as help warm homes and businesses in this historic port city.
We will be recovering heat at the Google Hamina data center, which operates today with carbon-free energy at 97%. This means the recovered heat will also be 97% carbon free. It will represent 80% of the annual heat demand of the local district heating network according to Haminan Energia.
Heat coming out of our Finnish data center will be re-routed and provided free of charge1by us to the district heating network in nearby Hamina, covering local households, schools and public service buildings.
According to Ilari Soosalu, the Mayor of Hamina: "Google and the city of Hamina have a long and flourishing history together. Google is an excellent example of a company with strong sustainable future orientation. It feels good to be the hometown of Google in Finland."
How it works
To date, the heat from Google’s Hamina data center has been captured and recovered to heat the offices and buildings on site. Starting next year, the warm temperature coming from the data center will be recovered to optimize the district heating network energy efficiency and carbon emissions footprint.
Our commitment to a carbon-free future
Google is aiming to achieve net zero emissions across all of its operations and value chain by 2030, supported by an ambitious clean energy goal to run all its offices and data centers on 24/7 carbon-free energy.
This project helps bring us closer to achieving this goal while also supporting Finland’s long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability and technological innovation.
