Industrial sites for energy-intensive operators 

Data centres represent a key component of the broader green transition. Finland’s data centre capacity is expected to grow several-fold in the coming years. The significant increase in data centre capacity is a global phenomenon linked to digitalisation, particularly the increasing use of artificial intelligence and cloud services.

Energy-intensive projects linked to the green transition require substantial amounts of electricity and large land areas for buildings and supporting infrastructure. This creates a strong foundation for Metsähallitus, which manages approximately one third of Finland’s land area.

We enable investments that support the energy transition, digital infrastructure and Finland’s competitiveness by offering large and carefully selected industrial plots from state-owned land. The industrial plots are specifically targeted at energy-intensive industries and green transition projects, such as data centres, hydrogen operators, energy storage solutions and projects linked to district heat production, or other large industrial investments in which the availability and security of electricity supply are key.

Our sites are suitable for long-term projects where the size, coherence and expansion potential of the area are essential. 

A key criterion for our sites has been a 400 kV main grid substation located close enough to enable the connection of large electricity consumers to the grid. In addition, we have considered the main transmission grid development plans, which will affect the future accessibility and investment security of the sites. Connection inquiries for 500 MW consumption projects have been submitted to Fingrid for our sites. 

The size of our sites is primarily over 100 hectares, but at least 50 hectares, and their soil and topography are suitable for construction and logically structured. Large-scale projects allow us to achieve economies of scale and implement construction in phases. 

Our sites have good transport connections, especially for heavy vehicles, which is a prerequisite for construction, operation and security of supply. 

The areas have been pre-selected from the perspective of land use by excluding, for example, protected areas, areas used by the Finnish Defence Forces, areas reserved for the activities of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and other areas strongly reserved for other purposes. 

There is no general or local detailed plan at the sites, or the existing plans do not correspond to the intended use, meaning the areas require a planning review. We have started discussions with municipalities on the development of the sites.

Contact us 

If you are looking for large sites suitable for the energy-intensive industry, we will be happy to discuss your project and its prerequisites.