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In a board meeting last week Landsvirkjun (National Power Company) decided that they would focus their energy supplies towards less polluting, environmentally friendly industries, thus changing course from its predominantly aluminum focused strategy.

“This is a business decision. …we have wanted to increase our client base and diversify against risk, not to be dependant on one industry.” said Páll Magnússon, chairman of the board of Landsvirkjun in an interview with Morgunblaðið.

Following this decision Landsvirkjun has already had talks with several Data Center companies and are preparing talks with a poly silicone company regarding possible energy contracts. At this time, however, the company will not negotiate with aluminum companies planning to build in the south or west part of the country. One of the future partners of Landsvirkjun is Verne Holdings ehf., a joint venture of General Catalyst and Novator, which plans to build a Data Center on the old NATO base close to Keflavik International Airport. Verne’s CEO stated in an interview with RUV last night that the Data Center is scheduled to host data from various industries i.e. financial, retail, oil, movie, etc and will be among the 20 largest of its kind in the world. In its initial phase Verne Holdings will demand roughly 5MW of power and will scale up to 50MW or more in further stages. It will be relying on the new Danice submarine fiber optic cable as its primary connection to Europe with secondary (redundant) services through Farice-1. Verne Holdings, however, predicted that in 4-5 years time the cables would be running at capacity and a fourth cable would have to be put in place. 

By locating in Iceland Vern Holdings confirms Iceland as an outstanding location for Data Centers, and paves the way for other companies to seize this opportunity.