Summary
- Risti Kampus is planned for 180MW in phase one, with expansion to 400MW.
- A nearby substation has 180MW available, alongside planned solar, battery, and wind infrastructure.
- Magnora and Sunly will own the project equally, with Magnora holding an option to increase its stake to 75%.
Magnora Data Center has agreed to acquire a 50% interest in the Risti Kampus data centre development in western Estonia, where the first phase is planned for 180MW and the site could ultimately expand to 400MW.
The project is being developed with Estonian energy infrastructure company Sunly. Magnora said the property is around 60km south of Tallinn and 150km south of Helsinki, with access to a substation where 180MW of capacity is currently available.
Expansion to 400MW would require upgrades to that substation. Zoning and cable route rights are also still being secured, leaving significant development work between the current powered-land position and delivery of a full-scale campus.
The site sits beside Sunly’s Risti energy park, where 244MWp of solar, 144MW of battery energy storage, and 44MW of wind capacity are in development.
Power and fibre underpin the development case
Risti’s attraction rests on the combination of electrical capacity and connectivity. Magnora said the site has round-trip fibre latency to Helsinki of less than five milliseconds and lies on a fibre route connecting Tallinn and Helsinki towards major European internet hubs.
That gives the development a potential route into Nordic and continental workloads without placing it inside one of Europe’s most heavily constrained established data centre markets.
The adjacent renewable generation and storage portfolio adds another element to the power proposition, although planned generation cannot be treated as equivalent to firm, continuously available data centre supply. The operating model will still depend on grid arrangements, customer requirements, redundancy design, and the timing of the individual energy projects.
Sunly will lead local execution, permitting, and energy development, while Magnora Data Center will take responsibility for commercial strategy, positioning, and customer engagement.
The venture will initially be owned equally. Magnora also has an option to raise its interest to 75%.
Magnora Data Center was separated from parent Magnora and listed on Euronext Growth Oslo in June. Its development strategy has focused on locations where land and electrical infrastructure can be assembled before major investment decisions are taken.
400MW remains a development ceiling, not delivered capacity
The distinction is important at Risti. The 400MW figure describes the proposed full expansion of the campus rather than capacity available for customers today.
Before the site reaches that scale, the venture will need to complete permitting, secure the cable route, progress substation upgrades, establish customer commitments, procure major electrical and mechanical equipment, and fund construction in phases.
The first 180MW phase is itself large enough to require substantial utility and construction coordination. Delivery will have to align the data centre programme with power infrastructure that is being developed alongside it rather than assuming all supporting assets arrive at the same time.
Risti nevertheless adds another large project to the Baltic data centre pipeline as developers look beyond the traditional Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin markets for sites with credible power positions.
The next useful indicators will be progress on zoning, grid works, customer commitments, and a construction timetable for the initial 180MW phase.
