VivoPower has acquired Nordland Data and plans to replace its current cryptocurrency operations with an artificial intelligence data center. At a public meeting in Rana, the company presented its plans and outlined an initiative with a 100-year time horizon.<\/p>\n
In early September, VivoPower invited local politicians and representatives from the business community to a public meeting. The company presented its plans for Nordland Data and answered questions on topics including power consumption, jobs and the local economic impact.<\/p>\n
Representing the company were Executive Chairman and CEO Kevin Chin, Chief Investment Officer Alex Cuppage and Chief Property Officer Shane Whelan. Eirik Solfjeld, Managing Director of Nordland Data, was also present.<\/p>\n
VivoPower completed its acquisition of Nordland Data on 21 April. The publicly listed company was established in 2014, is headquartered in London and has previously worked in areas including solar energy and electric vehicles. In recent years, the company has shifted its focus towards power-to-X and data centers.<\/p>\n
The current cryptocurrency hosting operations will be phased out when the existing agreement expires on 27 June 2027. The goal is to develop the facility in Vika into an artificial intelligence data center.<\/p>\n
VivoPower will be responsible for the buildings, power supply, cooling and operations. A partner will equip the data center with servers and other technical infrastructure. During the public meeting, Chin said that the company had selected its AI partner with great care and that the partner\u2019s name would be announced within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that it had been important to find a partner that shares VivoPower\u2019s long-term perspective and wants to make a positive contribution to the local community.<\/p>\n
Chin highlighted education as an area that is particularly important to him. His mother was a teacher, and he explained that this had had a significant influence on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be known for having contributed more than we have taken,\u201d Chin said.<\/p>\n
In other words, VivoPower wants to be recognized as a company that contributes more to the local community than it takes from it.<\/p>\n
VivoPower made no secret of the fact that the immediate economic impact on Rana is likely to be limited, as the region already faces a shortage of workers with the required skills. However, the company is taking a much longer-term view of the development. The aim is to attract more people to the region in the medium and long term, not only through new jobs, but also through the development of sustainable industries and positive economic and social benefits for the local community.<\/p>\n
The ambition is to develop an operation with a 100-year time horizon. This is not only about the data center itself, but also about creating long-term benefits in areas such as skills development, education, local suppliers and broader business development.<\/p>\n
The goal is to get started as quickly as possible. Before construction can begin, the remaining permits, financing and customer agreements must be in place. If everything goes according to plan, construction could begin in October 2026.<\/p>\n
Before the new data center can be built, parts of the existing buildings in Vika must be demolished. The demolition work will be among the first contracts to be awarded.<\/p>\n
VivoPower intends to use local suppliers wherever possible. The company estimates that the project could create several hundred jobs during the construction phase. Once the data center is completed and operational, it could employ between 30 and 60 people.<\/p>\n
The total value of the project, including technical equipment, is estimated at around NOK 3 billion. During the summer, VivoPower raised USD 50 million from investors in connection with the Mo i Rana project. The company is also confident that it will be able to secure the remaining project financing.<\/p>\n
Power consumption and grid capacity were among the topics discussed during the public meeting.<\/p>\n
Nordland Data currently has 40 MW in operation. Solfjeld pointed out that this power is already being used by the cryptocurrency hosting operations. The transition to an AI data center would therefore not increase consumption within the existing power allocation.<\/p>\n
The company has been in the queue for an additional 40 MW for several years. VivoPower is also exploring the possibility of using available capacity that has been allocated to other businesses but is not currently being used.<\/p>\n
An AI data center will generate significant amounts of heat. The company therefore wants to explore how the waste heat could be utilized locally, for example for district heating, land-based aquaculture or other industrial projects.<\/p>\n
If the plans are realized, Chin believes Rana could become one of the first places in the world where an existing cryptocurrency operation is replaced by an artificial intelligence data center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VivoPower has acquired Nordland Data and plans to replace its current cryptocurrency operations with an artificial intelligence data center. At a public meeting in Rana, the company presented its plans and outlined an initiative with a 100-year time horizon. In early September, VivoPower invited local politicians and representatives from the business community to a public […]","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":40709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2445,2444],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frontpage_en","category-industriparknytt_en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40712,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40711\/revisions\/40712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mip.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}