Aachen, 23.08.2024 - Data centers are the heart of digitalization and thus a crucial factor in how sustainably we succeed. The new regio iT data center is intended to show how it's done and is already considered a best-practice model. With the ground-breaking ceremony, the construction project is now entering the hot phase and the new data center is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2025.
For years, regio iT GmbH has also been very progressive with its data centers (DCs) and has consistently developed the aspects of “green IT” and “sustainability”. For example, today's regio iT data centers have long been operated with one hundred percent green electricity; efficient technologies in line with the company's own green IT strategy ensure that energy consumption can be controlled intelligently and sustainably, for example for cooling.
With its new building, the largest municipal IT service provider in North Rhine-Westphalia, which also counts the City of Aachen, StädteRegion Aachen and the associated municipalities among its customers, is now taking sustainable data center operation to a new level: “Our new climate-neutral data center is developing into a flagship project in terms of energy efficiency, as the planning phase has already shown us. All data centers should be climate-neutral by 2035. To achieve this, all stakeholders need to join forces and learn from each other,” says Dieter Ludwigs, Chairman of the regio iT Management Board. “There is a great deal of interest from politicians, IT associations, customers and partners,” confirms Michael Servos, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of regio iT GmbH. “We can be proud that such a highly efficient and forward-looking data center is being built here in regio iT. All the better that this is a joint project between the City of Aachen, STAWAG and regio iT.”
How can data centers be built in such a way that they are as efficient and sustainable as possible?
For example, measures are planned to use sustainable building materials and materials and to minimize waste during the construction of the data center. The design with a green façade not only makes an ecological contribution to good air quality and biodiversity, but also achieves an energy-saving natural cooling effect. By installing and operating a photovoltaic system on the roof and façade for the data center's own requirements, regio iT intends to make a further contribution to environmentally friendly energy generation. An overall optimized energy balance is also to be achieved by using district heating to generate the necessary cooling energy. “The use of such highly efficient cooling technologies is more important than ever these days,” explains Tim Klein, project manager at DC-Datacenter-Group GmbH (DCG) from Rhineland-Palatinate. It is designing and managing the new data center building as the general contractor. “The strong growth of the data center industry, especially in Germany, requires enormous amounts of resources. Innovative measures such as these are needed to ensure that digitalization is sustainable,” adds Ralf Siefen, CEO of DCG.
The planners are already looking further ahead. Bernhard Barz, regio iT's project manager for the data center construction, explains: “The new building should exploit all the possibilities of sustainability today - and at the same time open up options for new technologies and operating modes.” The Aachen-based architecture firm KLEICKER. architektur is responsible for the efficient interplay of design and function. There is no doubt that architecture is one of the key success factors for the sustainable use of resources, as this building project shows.
And that is what the new data center will be called:
“Euraix Evolution”, or EVO for short. The name emerged from a creative competition held by regio iT employees, with 73 suggestions submitted. EVO stands for the further development of the “old” data center “Euraix” into a new generation data center with green technologies.
The official ground-breaking ceremony on 23.08.2024 was attended by:
- Barz, Bernhard Barz // Project manager for data center construction at regio iT GmbH
- Brösse, Frank // Managing Director of STAWAG Energie GmbH
- Klein, Tim // Project manager of DC-Datacenter-Group GmbH
- Ludwigs, Dieter // Chairman of the Management Board of regio iT GmbH
- Servos, Michael // Chairman of the Supervisory Board of regio iT GmbH
- Siefen, Ralf // Chairman of the Management Board of DC-Datacenter-Group GmbH
- Thomas, Heiko // Alderman of the City of Aachen for Climate and Environment, City Operations and Buildings (Department VII)
- Wolf, Dr. Stefan // Managing Director of regio iT GmbH
Project facts & figures:
- Building area: 380 m2 (2-storey) + cooling park
- Whitespace area: 190 m2
- IT load: up to 300 kW
- Certifiability: EN 50600 VK3
- Construction time: 1 year (incl. implementation planning)
- Energy efficiency value: 1.25 PUE
- Cold aisle temperature: up to 27 °C
- Sustainable waste heat utilization and optional heat extraction
- Cooling: Cooling generation using district heating (cooling-as-a-service). Enables CO2 savings of up to 35 % compared to conventional refrigeration.
- Photovoltaics: increased self-sufficiency thanks to PV façade (approx. 100 kW output)
- Green façade: green façade as a contribution to improving the urban climate
