The Government regards data centres as critical digital infrastructure, and will facilitate storage of Norwegian data on Norwegian soil and provide the authorities with better overview and control of the data centre industry.

– Everything we store in the cloud ends up in a physical data centre that requires space, power, technology and labour. Each of us interacts with at least 40 data centres a day when we are online. This is why it’s important that we have secure data centres in Norway, and that the data centre industry is sustainable and contributes to jobs, says Tung.

The Data Centre Strategy highlights security requirements for data centres and better utilisation of excess heat, as well as the investigation of a temporary prohibition on the establishment of data centres that mainly engage in energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining.

These are the overriding objectives set by the Government for its data centre policy:

  • Norway shall be an attractive location to data centre establishments that contribute to overall value creation, increased security and the safeguarding of Norwegian interests.
  • Data centre establishments shall strengthen local communities and contribute to value creation at the local and national levels.
  • The data centre industry shall have predictable and appropriate framework conditions. The framework conditions for the industry shall balance and safeguard both national security interests and crime prevention interests, and the desired establishment and development of data centres in Norway.
  • Data centres shall have adequate security in times of peace, crisis and war. Norway has robust data centres that ensure both national and regional autonomy of data centre services. The most critical digital services shall be delivered from data centres in Norway or from data centres located with allies.
  • The data centre industry in Norway shall be sustainable and have a low climate and environmental footprint.

The development of the data centre industry shall be guided by the following principles:

  • The development and operation of data centres must take into account how they affect the climate, the environment, nature and society as a whole. Critical digital infrastructure as a prioritised development purpose shall be developed within a framework of sound decisions for nature, considering differentiated land-use management.
  • Data centre developments shall be land-efficient and, as far as possible, shall not be planned in areas with climate and environmental values that are of national or significant regional interest.
  • Data storage and processing shall be based on renewable energy. Data centres in Norway shall be energy efficient.
  • Data centres in Norway must capitalise on the real opportunities for energy recovery and reuse of excess heat from their operations.
  • All hardware in data centres shall be reused or recycled to the extent possible.

– The data centre industry has grown substantially, which has also led to a growing need and demand for electrical power as well as increased land-use. Through a public-private partnership between the data centre industry and the electronic communication authorities, we will look closer into a possiblel energy-labelling scheme for data centres, says Tung.

The Data Centre Strategy focuses on goals and measures to ensure that the data centre industry contributes to value creation and jobs, and to a more secure and prepared Norway, and that this industry is sustainable and contributes to a greener future in Norway.