Swedish Solar Developer Helios Nordic Energy Plans Major Data Center Campus in Finland
April 10, 2026
In a strategic move highlighting the convergence of renewable energy and digital infrastructure, Swedish firm Helios Nordic Energy is venturing into the data center market with plans for a significant campus in Finland. This expansion underscores the growing trend of energy companies leveraging their expertise to power the next generation of compute-intensive facilities, particularly in Nordic regions prized for their stable operating environments and green power resources.
The municipality of Iisalmi, located in the North Savo region of central Finland, announced this week that Helios is planning a new data center in the Tervamäki area. While full project specifications are pending, the campus is projected to span more than 100 hectares. The company is currently engaged in the permitting process with local authorities. A key advantage of the site is its proximity to critical energy infrastructure, with Fingrid Oyj's power line running to the west and plans for the data center to connect directly to Fingrid's new Tervamäki substation.
Aleksi Aalto, project developer at Helios, emphasized Finland's strategic advantages. "Finland's strengths for locating data centers include a safe and predictable operating environment, a reliable electricity grid, a cool climate, and high-quality telecommunications connections," Aalto stated. "Finland has an excellent opportunity to become a leader in the industry. The need for data centers is now growing significantly, and in the current global situation, it is in the interest of all of us internet users that information about us can be processed securely on servers located in Finland."
Local officials welcomed the potential investment. Iisalmi Mayor Jarmo Ronkainen noted, "Tervamäki's large-scale data center planning project will open up a new, significant industry for the Iisalmi and Upper Savo region. If implemented, the project will bring significant investments to our region during the construction period and, most importantly, in the longer term, will create permanent jobs." He framed the project as a natural progression following other local clean energy initiatives.
Founded in 2019 and owned by the VINCI Group since 2024, Helios Nordic Energy brings a portfolio of over 100 solar projects in operation and development across the Nordics to this new endeavor. Its pivot into data centers signals a broader industry shift where the lines between energy generation and consumption are blurring, with sustainable power becoming a core competitive differentiator for digital infrastructure. The project, if realized, would contribute to Finland's rapidly expanding data center market, attracting further international investment focused on sustainability and geopolitical stability.
Source: datacenterdynamics
