The football club Bødø/Glimt aims to build the world's most sustainable football stadium. They have invited Green Edge Compute as a vital contributor to realizing their energy efficiency and sustainability vision.
About the project: Bodø/Glimt is planning a new and sustainable arena to replace the current Aspmyra stadium. The club wants to build a new arena that can accommodate the city's elite league team in football in addition to several other sports, organizations, and events. The new arena will be ready for play in national and international competitions with a spectator capacity of 10,000. These are essential requirements for a successful project, but the desire for the stadium to be sustainable is as crucial.
A sustainable stadium with a Green Edge data center
Bodø/Glimt approached Green Edge Compute because the football club wants to build a sustainable stadium socially, economically, and not least in terms of climate and energy use. The ambition is to achieve a circular economy operation through, among other things, waste and heat recovery.
– We are thrilled to be among the companies selected to participate in this project. Our green data center is an essential element in the new stadium plans to operate without the supply of energy from other energy sources, says CEO of Green Edge Compute, Svein Harald Olavesen.
The project's goal is to achieve the highest BREEAM Communities certification. BREEAM is Europe's oldest and most recognized environmental certification system in construction and development. You can earn the highest "outstanding" degree through six emphasized categories and 40 different documented topics.
– Will make our sustainable data centers even more sustainable
The project is currently in an early phase. The football club aims for the new stadium project to be self-sufficient in energy. Thus the plans include space reserved for a Green Edge data center. In addition, they want to build a pyrolysis plant to create power for operations. There are also great opportunities for extracting solar energy.
– This means we can also buy sustainable electricity from the stadium project for use in our data center if the project generates a power surplus. That makes our already sustainable concept even more sustainable. It is an opportunity worth its weight in gold as it showcases our concept, says CCO in Green Edge Compute, Patrik Hagelin.
Green Edge Compute and Bodø/Glimt have signed a letter of intent. A prerequisite for Green Edge to commit to the project is finding data center customers locally.
– Proof that we have the most sustainable solution
How important is this project for Green Edge Compute?
– Being asked is proof that we have the data center solution that is most suitable when sustainability is an important project goal. It is a feather in the cap. Moreover, this project is one of several. We have many projects coming up because various partners have opened their eyes to our sustainable solution, says Olavesen.
SINTEF concludes in a recent report that the Green Edge data center, established in Trondheim, saves the environment 1000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to a traditional data center because it is so energy efficient.
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What makes Green Edge Compute's data centers, so sustainable is, among other things, that liquid cooling is used instead of air cooling. In addition, district heating systems can use the hot water remaining after the cooling process. Thus the energy is used twice.
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Forces change in energy sales
Much energy is needed to heat a stadium used all year round, especially when it is located in the north with long periods of low temperatures, even in summer.
– I believe these projects will force new ways of buying and selling energy. In Trondheim, we have received a dispensation to create a separate internal market for energy. I think similar projects will pop up in other places in the country. The energy companies do not mind because they cannot solve the energy challenges alone, says CEO Svein Harald Olavesen in Green Edge Compute.
The planning of the new stadium is well underway.
– Contributes to solving a global problem
– We wanted to partner with Green Edge Compute because they can offer an innovative way to help solve a global problem. Not many other players have considered how much CO2 data centers emit. Green Edge takes active steps throughout the value chain to get a sustainable solution. This is crucial for us, says Halvorsen.
On 16 June, the area part of the municipal plan was on the agenda in the city council in Bodø. Bodø/Glimt was given the green light to continue working on the plans for a new stadium on Thalleveiåkeren.
– There is still a lot of work to be done with detailed regulation and, eventually, construction case processing. It is excellent for us to have such stable partners as Green Edge Compute, Norconsult, and Advansia. We are lucky to have so many solid players helping us realize the project, says business developer in Bodø/Glimt, Benedicte Halvorsen.
When do you expect the new stadium to be completed?
– The ambition is in 2024, but it depends on whether we meet some critical deadlines. There is no consequence if we wait until 2025, says the project coordinator.
Read more about the project on Bodø/Glimt's website.
