Green Mountain and Hima Seafood Forge Innovative Waste Heat Partnership in Norway
February 4, 2026
In a significant step for sustainable industrial symbiosis, European data center operator Green Mountain has officially launched a heat reuse project with Norwegian seafood producer Hima Seafood in Rjukan, Norway. The initiative underscores a growing trend within the data center industry to repurpose excess thermal energy, transforming a major operational byproduct into a valuable community resource and addressing critical energy efficiency challenges. The operational project utilizes a closed-loop system where waste heat from Green Mountain’s RJU1-Rjukan data center is transferred via an 800-meter pipeline to warm water tanks at Hima Seafood's adjacent land-based trout farm. After circulating through the aquaculture systems, the cooled water is returned to the data center to be reused in its cooling processes. This first phase, which became operational in the autumn of 2025, has a capacity of 1.75MW. The partners have announced plans for a joint feasibility study to explore a second phase that would scale the system to a substantial 8MW. Annar Bøhn, CEO of Hima Seafood, emphasized the project's mutual benefits, stating, “Waste heat is only waste heat if it goes to waste. By utilizing excess heat from Green Mountain, we reduce our energy consumption, minimize our environmental footprint, and strengthen the robustness of our operations. This is a clear win‑win solution.” The collaboration, first announced in 2021, utilizes a series of heat exchangers to facilitate the energy transfer. The Rjukan project is positioned as an international showcase for circular economy innovation in rural regions. Torkild Follaug, Sustainability Director at Green Mountain, noted that the partnership “demonstrates how data center and aquaculture industries can create tangible circular‑economy benefits, reduce their climate footprint, and drive new value creation.” This initiative aligns with Green Mountain’s broader strategy, exemplified by its data center in Mainz, Germany, which is designed to supply up to 60MW of heat to approximately 20,000 local households.
Source: datacenterdynamics
