Ever-incre­asing volu­mes of data and the resul­ting rapid growth in com­pu­ting capa­city are lea­ding to ever-hig­her CO2 emis­si­ons. With its wind­CORES brand, West­fa­len­WIND has long since found a sus­tainable solu­tion to this chall­enge in the form of cli­mate-neu­tral data cen­ters housed within wind tur­bi­nes. Now ano­ther mile­stone has been rea­ched: The wind­CORES II faci­li­ties at the Huser Klee wind farm near Lich­tenau have been offi­ci­ally com­mis­sio­ned. These are multi-story data cen­ters loca­ted inside the tower of a wind turbine. 

The idea is simple: The electricity—usually sur­plus elec­tri­city that would other­wise go unused—is used where it is pro­du­ced in a cli­mate-neu­tral way any­way. And that’s right inside the wind tur­bine. “In the spi­rit of sus­taina­bi­lity, we sim­ply place the con­su­mer right within the gene­ra­tor,” says Dr. Fiete Dub­berke, CEO of West­fa­len­WIND IT, suc­cinctly explai­ning the wind­CORES con­cept. Suc­cessfully estab­lished on the mar­ket since its launch in 2018, the brand is uni­que world­wide. “Now we’re thril­led and incre­di­bly proud that we’ve rea­ched the next level of expan­sion with wind­CORES II,” says Dub­berke figuratively—after all, the new data cen­ter spans seve­ral levels at a height of up to 20 meters. 

The grand ope­ning will be cele­bra­ted this week as part of a four-day series of events with cus­to­mers and busi­ness part­ners, as well as local repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from poli­tics, govern­ment, and the local busi­ness com­mu­nity. The pro­gram includes expert pre­sen­ta­ti­ons and panel dis­cus­sions on Green IT and the future of rene­wa­ble energy. Of course, guests will have the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence wind­CORES up close for the first time. Mona Neu­baur, Minis­ter for Eco­no­mic Affairs, Indus­try, Cli­mate Pro­tec­tion, and Energy of the State of North Rhine-West­pha­lia, did not want to miss the tour and gladly accepted the invi­ta­tion to the ope­ning on Wed­nes­day: “For the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion, we will need ever more com­pu­ting power in the future. To ope­rate data centers—with their high energy demands—in a cli­mate-neu­tral man­ner, inno­va­tive and smart solu­ti­ons are requi­red. Energy effi­ci­ency will be cru­cial here. With wind­CORES, the energy city of Lich­tenau demons­tra­tes how gene­ra­tion and con­sump­tion can be lin­ked in a par­ti­cu­larly intel­li­gent way: The com­pany is instal­ling its com­pu­ting power in the towers of the wind tur­bi­nes and gene­ra­ting green elec­tri­city directly at the source. As a pio­neer in the expan­sion of rene­wa­ble energy, North Rhine-West­pha­lia offers the best con­di­ti­ons for ground­brea­king pro­jects like this one,” said the minis­ter, wel­co­ming the wind­CORES II project. 

Exten­sive preli­mi­nary plan­ning and a con­s­truc­tion period of just under one year were requi­red to imple­ment this three-level model. The design was deve­lo­ped in col­la­bo­ra­tion with Rit­tal, the world’s lea­ding pro­vi­der of con­trol cabi­net sys­tems, auto­ma­tion, and IT infra­struc­ture. Rit­tal was also com­mis­sio­ned to handle the inte­rior fit-out, which posed a par­ti­cu­lar chall­enge. “It’s like a ship in a bottle—all the equip­ment, inclu­ding the IT racks, had to fit through a small door,” says Dr. Fiete Dub­berke, describ­ing the work. 

West­fa­len­WIND IT’s goal is now to attract more cus­to­mers to its inno­va­tive data cen­ter. Dub­berke is con­fi­dent of suc­cess, as demand for sus­tainable cloud and colo­ca­tion solu­ti­ons is gro­wing rapidly in the indus­try. wind­CORES offers a decisive advan­tage, not least in terms of infra­struc­ture. It can some­ti­mes take years to build a con­ven­tio­nal data center—in con­trast, the wind tur­bi­nes are alre­ady in place, com­plete with high-per­for­mance grid and data con­nec­tions. No addi­tio­nal land needs to be paved over. While con­ven­tio­nal data cen­ters will emit 380 grams of CO2 per kilo­watt-hour of elec­tri­city in 2023, wind­CORES will emit just 10.75 grams. The con­cept uni­quely com­bi­nes East West­pha­lian inno­va­tive spi­rit, state-of-the-art data cen­ter tech­no­logy, and sus­taina­bi­lity. Fiete Dub­berke is con­vin­ced that the wind­CORES II will have a posi­tive impact on the region: “With the three-level model of our data cen­ter inside a wind tur­bine, we are tur­ning the Pader­born district—and the city of Lich­tenau in particular—into a hot­spot for sus­tainable digi­ta­liza­tion models.”