For international developers
Why Finland, and how to make your heat count here
Finland offers what large data centres need: a cool climate, mostly fossil-free electricity and sites close to grid capacity. The pipeline shows it: about 370 MW of IT capacity in 2025, an industry forecast of 1.2 GW or more by 2030, about 5 GW by 2035, and 189 projects counted by the Finnish Data Center Association. Finland also expects the heat to be used. Avans makes that expectation a source of income.
The basics
What Finland offers a data centre
A cool climate
Outdoor air cools the plant for most of the year, which keeps cooling energy and water use low.
Clean, stable power
Most of Finland's electricity is fossil-free, and the grid is part of the Nordic power market.
Room near the power
Rural sites close to grid capacity, and municipalities that actively seek data centre investment.
Industrial know-how
A long tradition in process industry, energy engineering and district heating, and universities that work with companies.
Rules to know
Waste heat, permit and tax rules a developer must plan for
Data centre register and heat plan (from 2027)
The draft Data Centre Register Act requires every site of 0.5 MW or more to notify the National Emergency Supply Agency after the investment decision and before construction, including its plans for using the waste heat; planned in force on 1 January 2027, with existing sites registering by 30 June 2027.
Grid-connection priority
Finland is replacing the first-come grid queue with four priority classes. Large data centres sit in class 3 and move up to class 2 only with flexible own generation of at least 1 MW; applications other than households and small businesses are handled twice a year, with the first allocation round possibly at the end of 2027. Southern Finland has little free capacity, so new sites go north and west, far from heat networks.
Waste heat cost-benefit analysis
Finland implements the EU obligation through the Energy Efficiency Act (1429/2014): new or substantially refurbished data centres above 1 MW must carry out a cost-benefit analysis on waste heat use and submit it to the Energy Authority.
Electricity tax
On 1 July 2026 electricity used by data centres moved from the reduced tax class II (0.05 c/kWh) to the general class I (2.24 c/kWh). The replacement support outlined on 5 December 2025 was dropped in the 2027 budget talks on 1 September 2026, so heat reuse has to pay for itself. Heat pumps of at least 0.5 MW, and heat pumps and electric boilers feeding district heating, stay in tax class II.
Clean transition siting permit (43 a §)
Under the Building Act, the land-use conditions of a clean transition project can be examined through a siting permit instead of a local detailed or general plan. For a data centre, the condition is that most of its waste heat is reused, so a credible heat plan can shorten the path to a permit significantly.
Energy aid
Business Finland grants energy aid to projects with eligible costs of up to EUR 5 million; larger projects are decided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. For example, Lappeenrannan Lämpövoima received EUR 2.66 million from the ministry in 2024 for a 24 MW heat pump plant using data centre waste heat.
Sources: Energy Efficiency Act (1429/2014); draft Data Centre Register Act (consultation closed 2 October 2026); government bill on a grid-connection priority procedure (Yle, 10 October 2026; Fingrid statement, 9 October 2026); Electricity Tax Act, tax class change for data centres from 1 July 2026, and Vero.fi on electricity tax classes; Finnish Government 2027 budget talks, data centre support dropped (Reuters, 2 September 2026); Business Finland energy aid terms; Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, energy aid decisions 2024; Tekniikka&Talous data centre survey (October 2026); Rystad Energy (October 2026); Finnish Data Center Association (September 2026).
How Avans helps
Your local partner for data centre waste heat
Reuse-ready from the design stage
We design the Heat Hub's tie-in into your plant early, so the site can report reuse readiness from its first EU label.
Heat users, found and contracted
We map and sign the local heat users, from drying and greenhouses to district heating, and work with the municipality.
Financed by a project company
A project company finances the Heat Hub and takes the heat all year. No Hub capex on your books.
One team, three languages
We work in English, Finnish and Chinese, and know the local decision-makers.
Next step
Planning a data centre in Finland?
Tell us about the site and the timeline. We will show what the heat can earn and how it supports your permit.
What happens next
- 1A 30-minute call: heat, possible users, timeline
- 2Together we check fit, schedule and funding options
- 3You get a fixed-price pre-study proposal, credited against the system delivery