Tonstad DataPark
GreenScale aims to build Tonstad DataPark as the next major data center in Norway.
Clearing of Ertsmyra continues
Stangeland Maskin continues removing trees at Ertsmyra. The work is part of preparing the site, as described in its zoning plan. After clearing parts of the site where the data center will be built, Stangeland Maskin will now transport away trees, bushes, and branches. The work will continue over the next 2–3 weeks and is limited to the transport of bushes and trees that have already been felled. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]
Socio-economic analysis of Tonstad DataPark
Samfunnsøkonomisk Analyse (SØA) has conducted an independent socio-economic analysis of the establishment of Tonstad DataPark. The analysis highlights the significance of the data centre development for value creation, employment, and long-term societal development in Sirdal, the wider region, and across Norway.
About Tonstad DataPark.
The new data centre will provide vital digital infrastructure to support cloud services, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing workloads. To succeed, we will work in close collaboration with local people, creating opportunities for long-term partnerships that will help us operate successfully and responsibly.
In Norway and Sirdal, we will utilise renewable energy, implement best-in-class energy-efficient solutions, and comply with strict environmental standards. Just as importantly, we will maintain a close and transparent dialogue with the municipality and local community. This cooperation is essential for us to fulfil our role as a trusted and sustainable provider of data centre services.
GreenScale is a sustainable data centre platform supporting the advanced digital infrastructure of hyperscale, AI and cloud customers.
GreenScale is committed to providing a scalable and sustainable data centre platform that will not only serve advanced digital infrastructure clients but also positively contribute to the energy infrastructure and local communities in which it operates.
Strategically placed in Europe’s expanding data centre regions, GreenScale’s data centres will positively contribute to energy ecosystems, supporting grid stability through alternative power solutions and anchoring renewable developments in the market.
Through our deep industry knowledge and European expertise, GreenScale will positively impact communities by providing a more robust energy infrastructure that supports local economic growth.
About Tonstad DataPark
News
Timeline
About GreenScale
Our partners
Through our development of Tonstad DataPark, we are prioritising partnerships with companies from the surrounding region and across Norway, helping to create local jobs, strengthen the regional economy, and ensure the project brings long-term value to the community.
Even at this early stage, we have already partnered with multiple local and national businesses, and this is just the beginning. We look forward to continuing to work with local companies and being an active part of the community as the project moves forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
About GreenScale
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where is GreenScale from? | GreenScale is a British company headquartered in London. |
| Who owns GreenScale? | GreenScale is wholly owned by German investment company DTCP. |
| Who receives the tax revenue from GreenScale’s operations in Norway? | We will pay corporate tax in Norway and property tax to the municipality, both in line with national and regional regulations. |
| What experience does GreenScale have with building and operating data centres? | The GreenScale team has extensive experience in the data centre industry, having built and operated hundreds of megawatts across EMEA and North America. |
| Will GreenScale have its own management for the Tonstad project in Norway? | Yes, GreenScale will have in-region, Norwegian management for both the construction and operational phases of the project. |
| How will you relate to the Norwegian labor model? | We are meeting representatives from labour organisations and are aware of Norway’s emphasis on dialogue and involvement from employee organisations, and we will follow this model. |
| Who are GreenScale’s customers, and who will be the customers of the Sirdal data centre? | Our data centre in Tonstad will serve a small number of large, reputable technology operators, typically hyperscalers, major cloud providers or next-generation “neo cloud” compute platforms. These companies deliver essential digital services such as search, cloud storage, communication and artificial intelligence, and undergo strict due diligence to ensure full compliance with Norwegian regulations and our internal ethical standards. The facility will not support inappropriate or harmful content, nor will we host crypto-mining activities. |
About employees at Tonstad DataPark
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How many employees will there be when the facility is completed? | Once operational, the campus will support approximately 250 full-time equivalents, with GreenScale becoming the largest private-sector employer in Sirdal. Learn more. |
| What types of jobs will exist at the data centre? | Jobs will include engineers, technicians, maintenance staff, security, cleaning, management, and administration. |
| Will there be apprenticeship positions? | We will partner with the county and local academic institutions to launch apprenticeship-programmes. |
| How many will work on building the data centre? | The construction phase will support 2,000+ full-time equivalents through direct and indirect employment. |
About project progress
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How will the project progress? | View the project timeline. |
| Have you received all required permits? | Different permits are required at different stages of the project. All the required permits up to the current stage are in place. |
| Why have you started clearing the site and did you have the appropriate approvals to do so? | In line with the planned development of the data centre campus, we commenced tree felling in early February 2026, meeting all required legislation at municipality, regional and state levels. The purpose of the work carried out was site clearance, consistent with the industrial zoning that was approved in 2020. |
About the use of suppliers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| In addition to the employees involved in the construction and operation of the data centre, how many others will be employed as a result of the establishment of the data centre? | In building and operating the data centre, we and our employees will depend on many others who supply goods and services. This is estimated to amount to 2000+ jobs during the construction phase, and in the operational phase approximately 600+ jobs (through direct, indirect and ripple effects). |
| Will you use Norwegian suppliers? | We will prioritise local and regional suppliers wherever possible. However, for certain aspects of the project, we will also have to use suppliers from outside Norway. |
| How do you attract local suppliers? | We have already established dialogue and will collaborate with regional business associations, the confederation of Norwegian enteprises (NHO), Invest in Agder, University of Agder (UiA), and others. We will continue to be accessible and proactively seek contact with relevant suppliers. |
| How do you ensure suppliers follow Norwegian labour rules? | Our robust supplier onboarding process will ensure that all suppliers comply with Norwegian labour laws and agreements. |
| How can my business become a supplier? | Contact [email protected]. In due course, small companies will also have the opportunity to engage with us and our appointed contractors via a dedicated supplier portal. |
About environmental and local impacts
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Have you completed an assessment of the effects on wildlife and nature? | We have commissioned several environmental studies, including a vegetation survey and bird survey. These have been conducted by independent, expert environmental consultants. The bird studies have been conducted using acoustic recoding units and these have been undertaken during peak breeding season as well as peak period for eagle-owl territorial vocalisation. The assessment concluded that, while the planning area is part of the functional habitat for a range of bird species, no eagle owls were detected. The vegetation study assessed the impact potential for valuable terrestrial habitat types and species. No occurrences of red-listed tree species were recorded within the project area, nor were any potentially valuable habitat types documented. |
| Will the data center use large amounts of water for cooling purposes? | Some data centres use evaporative cooling systems, where water is drawn from local sources and used to dissipate heat. While this can be effective, it can also result in significant water consumption. That is why we have made a commitment not to use evaporative cooling in our data centres. Our standard design uses closed-loop cooling systems, where water is recirculated rather than consumed. |
| How often will you be testing diesel generators? | Our generators will not use diesel. They will run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which is demonstrated to reduce CO2 and NOx emissions, as well as particulate matter by up to 27%. We envision that each generator will be tested on average up to 20 mins per month, over a typical year. Testing will be conducted during normal working hours (on weekdays). |
| How much noise will the data centre make? | Noise will be minimal and well within legal limits. We adhere to strict regulations and will implement necessary measures to ensure noise is maintained to acceptable levels. This will be validated through independent expert studies in due course. |
| Will the facility be visible? | The data centre buildings will not be visible from Tonstad; from Josdal they will be visible, but visibility will be screened wherever possible using landscaping. |
| How high will the buildings be? | We continue to refine the data centre campus and building design in line with the approved zoning plan, and therefore the final building height is not yet fixed ahead of us moving ahead through permitting and construction. |
| During the construction period, there will be a high level of traffic and heavy transport. How will you handle the impact this will have? | During construction there will be increased levels of traffic to and from the site. We are exploring traffic reduction options, and we will work closely with the municipality to reduce the impact and provide clear notifications to residents in the area. |
| You have said that you will need to carry out blasting to level the site. What impact will this have on the people living in the area? | We intend to level the site in the spring of 2026. The law requires us to carry this out in a responsible manner and to provide sufficient advance notice before any levelling takes place. |
| What other pollution will occur? | Data centres have modest local environmental pollution when compared to other industries. Data centres do not emit pollutants continuously during normal operation. The key source of local emissions come from backup generators, and these are intermittent and highly regulated. We have committed to running our backup generators on hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) rather than diesel, further minimising local emissions. |
About land use
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How large is the required area? | The plot of land on which our data centre will be built is approximately 420,000 square meters near Ertsmyra. Once built, our campus will occupy approximately 160,000 square meters, with a total building footprint of approximately 35,000 square meters. |
| How are cabins affected? | There are cabins that may see the data centre, but noise in the operational phase will be very limited. |
| What type of nature is affected? | The area where we are building is not designated as agricultural, nature or recreation land (LNF), but has already been planned as an industrial area, with a large transformer station as its nearest neighbour. |
About being heard
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| There have been complaints that affected parties were not heard during the zoning process for the site. How are you taking this into account? | We cannot comment on how the authorities handle complaints, but we welcome dialogue with anyone who has questions or feedback. That is also why we are holding several feedback meetings in Sirdal. |
| How do you consider input? | We evaluate all received input and are taking it into consideration as the project progresses. We remain committed to minimising the impact of our project on the local area and community. |
| How do you ensure affected parties are heard? | We have held, and will continue to hold, several dialogue meetings with the local community in Josdal and Sirdal, businesses in the municipality and region, as well as cabin owners. Anyone who wishes to provide direct input can also send their feedback to [email protected] |
| Have you notified neighbours and cabin owners properly on what GreenScale is doing? | Yes, we are informing residents and neighbours on what we are doing directly and through town hall meetings, social media, media and the municipality communication channel Sirdal info. |
About energy use
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How much energy will you use? | Statnett have allocated a 300 MVA reservation. This represents absolute peak load of the data centre. However, under general operating conditions, actual usage will be materially less. |
| Does GreenScale’s energy use prevent other industries from accessing the energy they need? | No, our reservation is factored into Statnett’s long term power forecast. |
| Does new power generation need to be built for GreenScale to supply its data centre with electricity? | No, the reservation fits within existing capacity already available at Ertsmyra. |
| Does GreenScale get to purchase electricity at a lower price than the rest of us? | No, we purchase electricity at market price and do not receive any government or municipal support or subsidies. |
| How will GreenScale’s use of energy affect electricity prices in our grid area? | GreenScale is unable to quantify this as it depends on a complex set of factors, including central government and municipality policy, the future composition of local industry, improved energy efficiency, and planned grid investments, all of which we are not party to. |
| Will you have far fewer employees per kWh than traditional power-intensive industry? | Data centres are the new power intensive industry of our time. For Norway, we will provide a profitable operation and value creation for a large number of employees for decades to come. |
| Will the establishment of data centres like GreenScale’s mean that more nature must be developed for wind or hydropower? | No, we have been allocated energy within the framework of existing power production and grid capacity. |
| Is the reason GreenScale is establishing itself in Norway and Sirdal that electricity is cheap? | No. GreenScale is committed to building and operating sustainable data centres. Norway’s grid is one of the cleanest and most stable in all of Europe, making it an ideal location for our data centre development. The cold Norwegian climate also allows for energy-efficient data centre operations through ‘free-cooling’, reducing the need for mechanical cooling. |
| Will new power lines need to be built in Sirdal or the region because of this data centre? | The data centre will connect to the transformer station at Ertsmyra. There is no need to build new power lines as a result of the data centre. |
| What will the data centre do with its excess heat? | GreenScale is committed to making its excess heat available to the local community and businesses. We have already reached out to local business to assess the opportunities for heat offtake and are also in dialogue with Sirdal Business Association to explore new partnership opportunities. Our findings will be used to assess the costs and benefits, and will be shared with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) as required. |
| Will GreenScale trigger the need for new wind power being built in the region? | We have no plans to develop new energy generating assets to power our data centre. Given that the Ertsmyra node is a net exporter, and well connected to transmission to support the Nordlink connector, we do not believe our development will trigger additional wind power being built in the region. |
About health & safety
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How will you ensure the safety of workers and the local community? | Safety is our top priority. We operate under a strict “Mission Zero” approach, which means aiming for zero harm to people and the environment. All workers and contractors must follow robust health and safety procedures, risk assessments, and legal requirements at all times to ensure everyone on and around the site remains safe. |
| What happens if there is an accident or incident on site? | All incidents, including near misses, must be reported immediately and investigated thoroughly. Clear processes are in place to ensure rapid response, corrective action, and continuous improvement, helping prevent similar issues from happening again. |
| Will construction activity pose any risk to nearby residents? | We carefully plan and manage all construction activities to minimise risk to the public and surrounding areas. This includes controlling site access, managing high-risk activities, and ensuring any concerns such as noise, traffic, or safety are addressed promptly and professionally. |
| How do you make sure workers on site are properly trained and qualified? | All workers must have the appropriate skills, training, and experience before carrying out any work. They receive site-specific inductions and ongoing training and must follow strict safety procedures to ensure work is carried out safely and responsibly. |
About data centres
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why do we need data centres? | Data centre capacity is essential for critical services such as healthcare systems, banking and payments, public administration, industrial production, logistics, mobile networks, cloud services, and modern AI solutions. Computing power has become as fundamental as electricity itself. |
| Why are data centres important for preparedness? | We provide computing power that society depends on. A modern society needs stable computing capacity, and data centres located in Norway strengthen national preparedness. |
At GreenScale, we are committed to creating lasting positive impact in the communities where we operate.
We spend time in the communities where we operate so we can listen, learn, and understand what matters most. By engaging early and responding to local priorities, we aim to deliver positive social impact, support employment, and create long-term value.
Explore our 12 sustainability commitments
Careers days
Eva and Pete recently attended Tonstad Skule to present to the students as part of our commitment to create early career opportunities.
Town halls
Our team have held community and business town halls to better understand the local priorities and how we can have a positive impact.
Local events
We attended Heimatt, an annual event to inform young people of the opportunities that exist locally, now and in the years ahead.
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