Data centers in Finland: 12 projects mapped

Data center projects are spreading across Finnish towns. Earthworks are under way in Forssa for what Yle calls Finland's largest data center, which could use about 8 percent of the country's electricity if fully built. In Lahti, the utility Lahti Energia says a data center under construction for TikTok will double the city's power use, and a second data center is planned there. Google runs a large campus in Hamina and has plans in Kajaani and Muhos.

Local leaders mostly welcome the projects. In Janakkala, where a data center beside Highway 3 is in the permitting stage and about 50 residents came to a recent briefing, municipal manager Riikka Moilanen said property tax alone could reach half a million euros a year, and that power supply and prices are not the municipality's business. Fingrid, the national grid operator, estimates that data centers and electric boilers could raise Finland's electricity use by nearly 40 percent in five years if all are built.

Some residents feel left out. In Jokela, in Tuusula, many people learned of a data center only after it had been approved, and a citizens' initiative asks the municipality to explain the project and open its confidential documents; the municipality is preparing its answer. In Lapinlahti, land zoned for a solar farm became a data center project without a public hearing. Pekka Väisänen of the Järvi-Suomen puolesta association is building a network to track how towns decide on these projects and to warn the next ones.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.