Iceland’s Hydro & Geothermal Energy Attracts Booming Data Processing Industry

Iceland’s Hydro & Geothermal Energy Attracts Booming Data Processing Industry

One of the most stunning facts relating to the digital age is that 'every day we create as much information as we did from the beginning of civilization to 2003' - Google CEO Eric Schmidt. New words to cover the sheer volume of data have had to be developed, with the latest mind boggling term now required - yottabytes (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes).

As most are well aware - this mammoth quantity of data ends is mainly housed in ‘the cloud’ or will be in the near future. In reality the cloud is facilitated in large data processing centres across the globe. Like any burgeoning industry there are clusters of data centres, located in specific locations with desirable resources and conditions.

The key resource being affordable and available electricity. Enter Iceland - the world’s largest electricity producer per capita. Its mix of ‘free' hydro and geothermal energy mean that the price is relatively stable & predictable and will continue to be. The country’s cool climate is also extremely cost efficient as the cost of cooling these facilities can account for 30% of the total electricity costs. Iceland is part of the EU, and follows high standards for data privacy - essential for most reputable organisations.

The recent installation of high class high speed cables has provided the final key ingredient as it connects the country to the US and Europe.

 

To read more on Iceland’s Data Processing revolution click here..