A data centre of up to 328,000 square metres could become one of the largest business projects on Lolland in the coming years.
But size alone is no guarantee that local companies will share in the benefits. That is the experience of Esbjerg Municipality, which decided as early as 2019 to focus on data centres and began identifying and zoning large, contiguous industrial sites.
- You can never guarantee that local value creation will happen by itself. But we believe data centres can generate significant activity for local suppliers if companies are connected to the project and are ready to take on the work, says Mikael Kirk Simonsen, business consultant at Business Esbjerg, who has worked on the municipality’s efforts to attract data centres.
Planning is key
Near Rødby, project developer Stender is planning eight data centre buildings with a capacity of up to 960 MW and 300-400 employees at full build-out. That would make the facility almost twice the size of Esbjerg’s largest announced project, which could reach 550 MW.
Experience from Esbjerg shows that the municipality needs to start early. Large contiguous sites have been identified and covered by local development plans in advance, so developers do not first have to negotiate with a large number of landowners.
- Data centres are large industrial buildings, and they need to be located accordingly. If a municipality wants to be attractive to the major operators, it requires planning several years ahead and considering land, infrastructure and the surrounding area before the specific project comes knocking, says Mikael Kirk Simonsen.
He also believes the local benefit should not be measured solely by the number of people employed inside the data centre. Part of the value can go to tradespeople, installers, transport companies and service providers.
- Large projects need local support and a supplier network that can deliver. Local companies do not automatically get the contracts, but if they are prepared, have the right skills and are brought into play, a data centre can generate activity far beyond the site itself. That is certainly our experience, says Mikael Kirk Simonsen.
Lolland Municipality has begun planning the area. It has not yet been publicly disclosed who the operator behind the project is, or how the municipality and local business organisations intend to prepare companies for the potential opportunities.
