Information about Luleå
Facebook is locating its new data center in the city of Lulea, Sweden. The location holds a combination of ideal inherent qualities for data storage. Besides having an extremely stable electricity infrastructure, it provides natural cooling and renewable hydropower. It is also one of the most geologically, politically and socially stable areas in the world. These qualities, and the fact that the establishment of Facebook’s new data center will make the region a major node for data traffic in Europe, has generated a new epithet for the Lulea region – The Node Pole.
Fresh air cooling
“The Node Pole” has the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, and is the coldest region in Sweden. In fact, the temperature has not been higher than 30°C/86°F for more than 24 hours in total since 1961. And the cold brings benefits. In addition to attracting the international automotive industry to carry out winter road testing, the climate enables fresh air cooling for the data center all year round.
Europe’s lowest electricity prices
Decades of development within the Lulea region’s steel, pulp and mining industry has engendered one of the most stable electricity grids in the world. Sweden also has the lowest electricity price in Europe and the country’s northern region, including Lulea, has the lowest electricity price in Sweden.
Lulea lies just by the great Lulea River (Lulea Alv) which hosts several of Sweden’s largest hydropower stations. In fact, the river generates twice as much electricity power as the Hoover Dam in the USA. The power to operate the new data center, which requires 120 MW, will be 100% derived from hydropower.
Highly developed infrastructure and education
The region is already one of Scandinavia´s leading skill centers in ICT
(Information and Communications Technology), and € 20 billion in agreed Investments make it one of the fastest growing regions in Europe.Lulea airport is frequently trafficked and is just a one-hour flight from Sweden’s largest international hub – Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
Lulea is one of the most secure and stable places in the world – geologically, politically, socially and economically. There is also a high level of education in the area. Adjacent to the data center location lies the Lulea University of Technology – Sweden’s first technology university and Scandinavia’s northernmost university with 15 000 students. The university holds several master programs and conducts research and innovation within fields ranging from distance-spanning technology (CDT), long-term digital preservation (LDB/LDP) to algorithmic engineering and lower energy consumption of web technology.