– Norwegian energy policy at its finest – E24

Shocking waste of electricity Industri Energi leader Frode Alfheim says Norwegian energy is used to store data for the Chinese company TikTok. – Absolutely missed, answers Abelia.

Using huge amounts of Norwegian renewable energy in a few workplaces to put out Chinese-owned dance videos is insane, says Industri Energi leader Frode Alfheim.

Chinese video-sharing service TikTok is in desperate need of storage. Now data center company Green Mountain is going to build Norway’s largest data center to house some of the company’s data.

The facility is located in Heggvin Næringspark in the municipalities of Hamar and Løten, and represents investments in the tens of billions.

The news is not going well for Industri Energi. This week, the union came out at E24 and warned against using clean Norwegian power in data centers rather than for other purposes.

Parts of the industry fear power shortages and high electricity prices because electricity consumption in Norway is expected to increase much more than production in the coming years. Statnett has estimated that there may be an energy deficit in 2027.

– Strength is needed for companies that create lasting value and many jobs, says Alfheim.

Horrible waste

Green Mountain’s new data center will harness up to 150 megawatts of capacity in the power grid. This corresponds to a maximum consumption of about 1.3 TWh (TWh), or just under one percent of Norway’s total electricity consumption.

Green Mountain says real consumption in this type of data center is typically 50-70 percent of maximum capacity.

– It is a horrific waste of electricity that blows up industry, businesses and people in the entire region. Alfheim says this is Norwegian energy policy at its finest.

The social media is controversial because its owners are Chinese. Alfheim points to TikTok as a Chinese spy app, and points to, among other things, the United States Consider bans The app and Minister of Justice Emily Inger Mehl Delete the TikTok app From his work phone after criticism.

– While the Minister of Justice should delete TikTok and the US is considering banning Sulamite entirely, we will use our Heritage Silver to be China’s digital archive, says Alfheim.

Green Mountain rejects the criticism

Green Mountain chief executive Sven Atle Hagaseth dismisses criticism from the union.

– We have signed an agreement with TikTok Norway. None of the TikTok companies are registered in China, and TikTok is an internationally registered company, Hagaseth tells E24.

We are, of course, aware of the criticism that has been leveled against TikTok, and feel that the company takes these matters very seriously. He says the creation of a data center in Norway is precisely in response to this criticism, and to ensure European data stays in Europe.

Tik Tok writes itself into one message On Thursday, a new data center in Norway and a second data center in Dublin will help ensure European data is stored locally rather than outside Europe.

In total, the total investment for the new data center in Hamar and Løten is estimated at NOK 29 billion, according to a study by the company. Green Mountain estimates its share of the investment will be NOK 11-15 billion.

Green Mountain was previously owned by the Norwegian Smedvig family, who sold the company in 2021 to the Israeli Azrieli Group.

Silent crossing

Hajaseth rejects the claim that data centers provide few jobs compared to other companies.

In terms of jobs, this project will provide about 350 permanent jobs in the operation phase, and 8,300 years of work in the construction phase. The CEO says it’s very important.

He notes that the Ministry of Local Government has previously conducted impact analyzes that show that for every megawatt a data center uses, there are approximately 17 direct and indirect employees.

Hagaseth believes data centers are a good use of clean Norwegian electricity.

Maybe I’m a little subjective, but data centers are an important part of the green transition. The climate crisis is global, not Norwegian. If you want to use as little energy as possible in your data centers and critical systems, there is nowhere more ideal than Norway. It’s wet and cool, with free cooling 360 out of 365 days a year. He says we can deliver the greenest data center in the world.

– Total misses

Managing Director Øystein Eriksen Søreide at Abelia is critical of Industri Energi’s move.

– I think it’s amazing that LO can select relevant data. Data centers are essential infrastructure for the development of Norwegian industry and business, Søreide tells E24.

Norsk Industry and Alfheim missed the mark here, when they threw the entire data center industry under the bus. He says there would be no green industrial support without digitization and data centers.

– Industri Energi refers to TikTok as a “Chinese Spy App”?

– It would be easy to find such examples and mark them as scapegoats. Soreid says data centers are important, and computing power is essential to the green transition.

– If you compare things with each other, it is clear that there is not enough strength to do everything. But then we think it’s more climate friendly and provides more value to Norway than having the data centers here, he says.

– unbelievable

Director Abelia points out that there is also significant energy consumption in industry and the oil sector. Among other things, Equinor has applied for 410 megawatts or up to 3.6 TWh of power to electrify the Melkøya LNG plant at Hammerfest. According to the report, many other gamers are being denied their apps to connect to the network due to lack of capacity Energy monitoring And NRK.

– One could very well argue that Malkoya Finnish banks for electricity. Soreid says Hydro also has massive consumption, with data centers being quite small in comparison.

I don’t think this kind of blame game makes sense. If you have a rule of thumb to prioritize, you will almost certainly have to prioritize what does the most for the green transition. And I think data centers are very important there, he says.

Can data centers also compete in terms of functionality per megawatt of electricity?

– This is an enabling technology that also facilitates other workplaces. Soreid says we are very willing to have a discussion about which companies make the best use of Norway’s strength.