The aim of the Interreg Nord project Arctiq-DC was to study and develop material to promote northern Sweden and Finland as great areas for data center establishment. The project, including the organizations of RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Oulu University, SF Tech, Hushållningssällskapet Norrbotten-Västerbotten, Oulu Data Denter, Hydro 66, Aurora Data Denter, Älvsbyns kommun, and Xarepo, has worked across borders to develop a broad understanding about data center and their needs and request in the process from establishment.
One of the milestones for the project was the physical test of wood ship drying based on data center excess heat, for two weeks 120 m2 of wood ships was dried in 10 different setups. It did show that the moister content could be reduced by 10% and about 40% of the data center power could be reused as drying power.
The project was of great importance when several reports were made for marketing northern Sweden and Finland as a great place for data center establishments. This couldn´t have been made without the crucial cross border collaboration.
Information about the project and the results can be found on the project homepage at
https://www.ri.se/sv/vad-vi-gor/projekt/arctiq-data-center
