Nscale stated that it is exploring plans to build a data center in Harjavalta, Finland, at the Sievari industrial area owned by the Town of Harjavalta, with Fortum supporting the project as site development partner. The project follows a June 2024 planning reservation agreement covering zoning, marketing, and grid connection for the data center site. It aligns with Fortum’s focus on electrification in the Nordics.
Fortum has signed a site securing and development agreement (SSDA) with Nscale and will continue work that began in 2024. Nscale and the Town of Harjavalta have also started the process toward a preliminary land sale of the Sievari site. Under the agreement, Fortum will support project development, including grid connection design and permitting. The total power capacity of the data center will be defined during the next design and permitting stages.
Jyrki Holappa, customer site development director at Fortum said: “This cooperation reflects our broader strategy to enable low-carbon growth by providing customers with the right conditions to build scalable, sustainable operations in Finland. These types of projects play a key role in driving electrification and digitalization in our societies,”
“The Nordic market, and Finland specifically, offers unique advantages that align perfectly with our commitment to sustainable, high-density infrastructure,” said Markus Päivinen, Nscale’s managing director for Finland and Baltics. “We look forward to contributing to the local economy, collaborating with local energy providers, and delivering cutting-edge compute capacity that will fuel the next generation of digital services in Finland throughout Europe.
“The Town of Harjavalta welcomes Nscale to establish a data center in Harjavalta as part of the expansion of the Sievari Industrial Park. The project is important for the town, as it brings employment to the region and strengthens the local economy both during construction and operation”, says Hannu Kuusela, Mayor of Harjavalta.
The project ties to Fortum’s focus on electrification and low-carbon energy. In this case, Fortum’s role includes site preparation, grid planning, and permitting support for the proposed facility.
Source: Nscale
About Fortum
Fortum is a Nordic energy company headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Founded in 1998, it generates and supplies electricity and heat and provides energy services for industrial and consumer use. Its operations include power generation, district heating and cooling, energy trading, and resource efficiency services. Fortum serves households, industrial customers, utilities, and commercial users across Europe and other regions. The company operates hydropower, nuclear, and combined heat and power plants. It also supports electrification and energy transition projects and offers services such as EV charging and solar power. Fortum operates in more than 40 countries, with a focus on the Nordic region. It reports more than 2 million customers globally and employs about 5,000 people worldwide.
About Nscale
Nscale Ltd., founded in 2024, is a UK-based technology company specializing in AI-optimized cloud infrastructure and high-performance computing (HPC) solutions. Headquartered in London, with data centers in Glomfjord, Norway, Nscale offers a vertically integrated platform encompassing public and private cloud services, serverless inference, GPU clusters, and AI development tools. Its infrastructure is powered by renewable energy, emphasizing sustainability. Nscale serves various industries, including education, finance, government, healthcare, legal, manufacturing, software, and telecommunications, providing scalable solutions for AI model training, inference, and development.