DigiPlex acquires land near Oslo

DigiPlex has acquired a plot of 60,000 m2, with an option to purchase an additional 100,000 m2 in Treklyngen industrial park in Ringerike municipality outside of Oslo. The seller is Follum Eiendom AS. The site has been prepared for the establishment of a data center and an agreement with Ringerikskraft ensures the necessary power supply for the first development phase.

Monday, 25th January 2021 Posted 3 years ago in by Phil Alsop

Ringerike municipality has ample access to renewable energy with more than 200 MW available. Combined with very good connectivity and proximity to Oslo and Oslo Airport, the area is very attractive for data center establishment.

“Treklyngen industrial park has a good strategic location, access to renewable energy through the agreement with Ringerikskraft and advanced solutions for circular economy,” said Wiljar Nesse, CEO of DigiPlex. “Acquiring this prime plot will help DigiPlex attract new national and international customers, including in the High Performance Computing (HPC) segment. I would like to thank both Ringerike municipality, the seller Follum Eiendom and Ringerikskraft for the warm welcome they have extended us”, Nesse continued.

The DigiPlex acquisition is in line with Ringerike municipality’s business policy to facilitate increased value creation with a wide range of business setups.

“We welcome DigiPlex to Ringerike and are proud that they have chosen to establish a new data center here. We have for several years purposefully worked to facilitate the establishment of large data centers in the municipality, and we are very pleased to see the results. We have the required infrastructure, both technically and location wise, and have collaborated to facilitate regulation, energy access and digital connection opportunities, says Kirsten Orebråten, Mayor of Ringerike municipality.

The seller of the plot is Follum Eiendom AS, a subsidiary of Viken Skog SA. The Group has established a rapidly growing industrial park in the area where the Norske Skog Follum factory was previously situated. Treklyngen industrial park focuses on developments in renewable energy and forest raw materials such as biofuels, biocarbon and related sectors. In addition, parts of the area are already prepared for data center construction.

Chairman of the Follum Eiendom AS board, Olav Breivik is enthusiastic about DigiPlex' acquisition of the plot, commenting: “DigiPlex is a long-term and solid player that fits into our industrial park.”

CEO Rolf Jarle Aaberg is also looking forward to the collaboration in the years ahead: “There are opportunities for good synergies between data centers and other activities that are planned for the area, not least the planned biomass plant that can re-use heat from the data center and generate electricity,” he said.

Local power supply company, Ringerikskraft has already entered into an agreement with DigiPlex to ensure an adequate power supply to future data centers in the industrial park.

“We are happy and proud to have signed an agreement with a player such as DigiPlex. At Ringerikskraft, we want to contribute to growth and development in the region. In the same way as electricity, we all now depend on data centers to make the wheels turn in today's digital society, and the data center industry is the world's fastest growing, energy-intensive industry,” said Ole Sunnset, CEO of Ringerikskraft.

DigiPlex has not yet set a date for construction to start but is in dialogue with several potential customers. DigiPlex has a total of seven data centers in the Nordic region, and opened new centers at Fetsund and Hobøl last year. An additional center is under construction at Fetsund.