Summary
- Skygard and Tinfos have signed a letter of intent to investigate development in Notodden.
- Svelgfoss is among the locations being examined through the municipal land-use process.
- No final site, capacity allocation, or construction decision has been confirmed.
Norwegian data centre developer Skygard has entered a letter of intent with industrial power company Tinfos to investigate potential data centre development in Notodden, including the former industrial area around Svelgfoss.
The companies are evaluating several possible locations and have not yet selected a final site, secured a disclosed electricity allocation, or committed to construction.
Svelgfoss has been proposed for inclusion in Notodden’s revised municipal land-use plan. On 4 November, the municipal council adopted the planning programme for its 2026–2038 land-use review, allowing the proposed data centre location to proceed to an impact assessment.
The revised land-use plan is expected to receive its first formal consideration in April 2027. Further assessment will examine the suitability of the land before a decision is made about its potential development.
Skygard is owned by Hafslund, Telenor, and HitecVision. Its business centres on digital infrastructure located in Norway, owned by Norwegian interests, and operated under Norwegian law.
Tinfos contributes a long industrial history in Notodden, where hydropower supported the growth of energy-intensive manufacturing during the development of Norway’s modern industrial economy.
The partners intend to examine whether the area’s electricity resources, industrial heritage, and existing infrastructure can support a new computing facility.
That assessment will need to distinguish local electricity generation from the grid capacity available at the proposed connection point. A municipality may produce substantial quantities of electricity without having sufficient network capacity to serve a new large consumer at a particular location.
Data centres also require reliable electrical infrastructure, backup arrangements, telecommunications connectivity, cooling systems, and appropriate physical security. Access to low-carbon generation addresses only part of that requirement.
Skygard and Tinfos have acknowledged that any development remains conditional on planning clarification, necessary permits, grid access, and a final investment decision.
Neither company has published an intended IT load or a timetable for commissioning.
The land-use assessment will consider environmental and infrastructure questions alongside the proposed site’s relationship with the surrounding community.
Among the issues identified are nature conservation, landscape effects, cultural heritage, power infrastructure, and the electricity network.
Affected landowners, including Hydro, have reportedly indicated a willingness to examine the proposal, although that does not establish consent for construction.
Local employment and industrial activity are also part of the assessment. Building a data centre would require civil engineering, electrical installation, mechanical systems, controls, and specialist commissioning work. Once operational, the facility could support technical maintenance, security, and other permanent roles.
The companies have not issued confirmed employment forecasts because the project’s size and configuration remain undecided.
Another opportunity being examined is the use of surplus heat.
Computing equipment converts most of the electricity it consumes into heat, which must be transferred away from servers and electrical systems. Some of that heat can potentially be used by nearby buildings or industrial processes.
Whether recovery is practical depends on cooling temperatures, distance to users, distribution infrastructure, and the demand profile of potential heat customers.
A facility using relatively low-temperature cooling water may need heat pumps to raise the recovered energy to a useful temperature. That introduces additional equipment and electricity consumption, which must be considered alongside the benefits of heat reuse.
No heat recovery network or customer has yet been committed in Notodden.
The proposal is emerging while Norway reassesses the allocation of electricity to data centres and the conditions under which new facilities should be developed.
Greater scrutiny of electricity access creates an additional requirement to demonstrate that proposed computing projects are technically and commercially credible.
Skygard’s emphasis on Norwegian ownership may strengthen its proposition for customers with security or sovereignty requirements, but those characteristics do not remove the physical constraints associated with a major electricity connection.
The next steps are therefore municipal assessment and further investigation of the potential sites. Until a location, connection arrangement, and investment programme have been agreed, Notodden remains a development opportunity rather than a committed data centre project.
