At least 5,000 private houses in the Finnish town of Mantsala get their heat from a local data center owned by Yandex, according to the Finnish broadcaster Yle.
Excited to visit #Yandex #datacenter in Mäntsälä, #Finland today. pic.twitter.com/wUOPIHab92
— Marika Sinikari (@MSinikari) 23 сентября 2015
Earlier this year, the Russian search giant’s Finnish data center in Mantsala clinched a deal with a local energy company to allow the community to reuse the center's waste heat.
The @yandex #datacenter in #Mäntsälä #Finland sells it’s excess heat. http://t.co/NwRpOWqlUd #pue #energyefficiency pic.twitter.com/LFO5CrTYn4
— Petri Aukia (@aukia) 6 июня 2015
Under the agreement, the heat from the Yandex data center will be used to keep the nearby buildings in the town warm.
According to the web portal Tekniikka & Talous, the thermal energy generated by the Yandex data center is enough to heat a total of 5,000 households, which are connected to the town's central heating system.
As for the heating infrastructure, it is reportedly implemented by the Finnish company Calefa, based in the Hollola province.
Yandex Datacenter Manager talks about their new-built dc in Finland. Full presentation: http://t.co/dbHvtTuYyO https://t.co/bgxejEX2uW
— Datacenter Forum (@DatacenterForum) 27 мая 2015
Representatives of the company noted that their technology is currently one-of-a-kind in the world.
Right now Ari Kurvi from Yandex is presenting benefits of operating Data Center in Finland. Hall 12 #CeBIT2015 pic.twitter.com/4Xi60z9kYe
— Herman IT Oy (@HermanITOy) 18 Март 2015
More than one thousand data centers are currently located across Finland; the data center owned by Google is believed to be the largest one.
It was reported that this Google facility has yet to develop the technology already in use in the Yandex data center.