Planning data center locations in Swedish municipalities. A comparative case study of Luleå and Stockholm

Abstract

Due to the electrification and digitization of things such as public services, communication systems, and transport systems, data centers have become part of the critical infrastructure of today's society. The data centers as a resource-intensive industry, perturbates the energy and spatial systems where established. Currently, municipalities as the main entities responsible for local resource management, often lack the power and/or determination to plan spatial and energy aspects cohesively. Consequently, municipalities encounter resource management issues when planning for data center locations; high resource demand (water, electricity, land) and high resource waste (excess heat). This research aims to support urban planners, municipal energy companies, politicians, and other relevant decision-makers, in developing municipal energy and spatial systems that account for data centers' resource demand as well as using their resources produced in the form of excess heat for the community's benefit. This study compares energy and spatial aspects in relevant data center locations in Stockholm and Luleå municipalities from an urban planning perspective. The results suggest that municipalities' energy and spatial systems can increase their adaptive capacity towards data center establishment by considering certain resource planning determinants: electricity and water infrastructure availability, heat producers and users' diversity, land use diversity, and property fragmentation.