The new facility in Helsinki will use electric energy from renewable and carbon neutral sources.  Waste heat will be recycled and used in district heating network. The first phase of the facility is expected to cost between €130 and €150 million. The Telia data centre will be operational and offering  services like cloud, colocation, “Internet of Things (IoT) aware capabilities” to businesses in Finland spring 2018.

Telia Finland, along with other Nordic companies, leads the way in using natural cooling for data centres. However, Telia still needed a solution when it came to the summer months.

The contract between Johnson Controls and Telia is to initially deliver several top-of-the-range YK Centrifugal Chillers to the site.  The two companies held discussions for several months identifying the particular needs of the new data centre. After extensive consultation with the main consultant, Royal Haskoning DHV, the client and Johnson Controls, the YK chillers were selected as the best fit  – thanks to its water-cooled centrifugal chillers’s real world performance, its sustainable design and its unprecedented array of innovations.

Once completed the Telia data centre will be 33,500sq meters big and have a 24 megawatt IT-power capacity – meaning it will require further eight chilling units to cool the massive ICT-infrastructure in the future. The new facility is intended to satisfy growing demand for cloud, colocation and other services around the Finnish capital, where electricity is relatively inexpensive and climate is cool.

Tapio Alijoki, field operations and sales manager at Johnson Controls, said: “Telia is a new customer for us, but we have quickly built up a rapport and been able to understand their needs and what they were trying to achieve with this new data centre. Hopefully it will be the start of a great new relationship between our two innovative companies.”

Pekka Lager, country manager for Johnson Controls Finland, said that ‘‘data centres were becoming an important sector for the business. There are lots of new opportunities in this area of data centre cooling and thanks to the expertise and the product range we have we are able to help partners with their needs,” he added.

Mr Timo Puroviita, production manager for the Telia Company said it had chosen Johnson Controls for its Helsinki project because the YK chillers fulfil our rigorous requirements and provide excellect effiency.‘

About the YK Chiller by Johnson Controls

• YK Centrifugal Chillers use HFC-134a – a refrigerant which has zero ozone-depletion potential and low total global-warming potential.
• Thanks to the OptiSpeed Drive, energy consumption can be as low as .20 kW/TR, reducing annual energy costs by as much as 30%.
• Use of a YK Centrifugal can earn LEED Points – Earn credits for Energy and Atmosphere (EAc1) and for Enhanced Refrigerant Management (EAc4).
• Falling-film evaporator reduces refrigerant charge up to 40%. The heat-recovery option available in units up to 2,800 (TR 7,000 kW) can provide 1,200 to 40,000 MBH of heat.
• The OptiView Control Centre ensures optimum performance and easy operation.
• In the event of a power failure, chillers equipped with the Quick Start feature can restart in as little as 25 seconds after emergency power is established.
• YK chiller meets OSHPD and IBC seismic requirements.