Tuscany, the first Data Center powered by geothermal energy is born
Europe's first geothermal-powered data center will rise in the cradle of geothermal energy, Larderello. Designed by In-Site, it will be built by innovative startup Geoveda into whose capital Lizard Renewables, a leader in the renewables sector, has just entered.
It will be Italy's first geothermal-powered data processing center in Europe, the one in Larderello, in the Pisan countryside, operated by Enel Green Power.
Building the data center will be Tuscan innovative startup Geoveda, chaired by Massimo Ponzellini, whose capital has just been joined by Lizard Renewables, a company active in the design and development of energy plants from renewable sources, which acquired 50 percent from the Ulixes sgr fund. The other 50 percent remains in the hands of Ulixes.
The total investment for the data center is estimated at 60 million euros, to be built in three phases in a production area in Larderello, in the municipality of Pomarance. The first, worth 10 million euros, has already been authorized and is in the start-up phase: site preparation has started, and construction of the first two-thousand-square-meter shed on two levels will begin in late September-mid-October. The second shed will be four thousand square meters, the third eight thousand. The data center is expected to reach 2,500 racks for a turnover of 25 million euros.
The Earth's natural heat-provided by Geoveda through an agreement with Enel Green Power-will be used both to cool the server rooms and to power the servers and primary backup devices, lowering the high temperatures these devices reach for data processing. The steam will be taken to an exchanger, and from there to the data center, as is done with geothermal district heating (born in Larderello itself in 1955), which allows heating homes in Pomarance (but in Tuscany also those in Monteverdi Marittimo, Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, Santa Fiora, Montieri, Radicondoli, and Chiusdino) and various economic activities, lowering costs and pollution.
Geodeva's idea is also to establish synergies between information technology facilities and their surrounding environment, aiming for zero impact in terms of CO2 released.
“We will have geothermal energy, thus a renewable source, directly at the mouth of the shed,” explains Marco Salvato, general manager of Lizard Renewables, ”with emission and cost savings of about 50 percent compared to using traditional electricity. The further goal is to develop a large-scale photovoltaic system, so as to make the data center totally self-sufficient on the energy front.”
That's where Lizard Renewables (Samag Group, active in logistics and transportation), which has experience in renewable sources, comes in: “So far we have developed 1,200 megawatts between wind, biomass and photovoltaics on behalf of energy companies and investment funds,” adds Salvato, “and we recently closed an agreement with Conad Nordovest to install photovoltaic systems and promote energy efficiency in the chain's stores. In a few weeks, Lizard (ten million 2021 turnover, 40 employees, 130 million assets in its belly) will begin construction of a biomethane plant from livestock manure and slurry in Ogliastra Cilento, an area of buffalo mozzarella production.