• Friesen Elektra has requested a zoning exemption for a data centre at its planned Wasserstoffpark Friesland hydrogen site near Sande
  • The company proposes sharing power and cooling infrastructure, but no data-centre capacity has been disclosed

The fact

Friesen Elektra has applied for a zoning exemption to add a data centre to its planned Wasserstoffpark Friesland hydrogen site near Sande in Lower Saxony. Data Center Dynamics, citing local reporting by NWZonline, said Sande's building committee had discussed the application because the site is not currently authorised for data-centre construction. Further municipal and district consideration is still required.

A company spokesperson told NWZonline that the proposed data centre would use the site's planned high-voltage electricity connection and regional renewable-power surpluses. Friesen Elektra also proposes extending the hydrogen project's closed-loop cooling system, using wastewater and other non-drinking-water sources. The wider hydrogen project received local approval in June and has been described as starting with 400MW of electrolysis. That figure refers to electricity-consuming hydrogen equipment, not data-centre capacity or power generation. The proposed data centre's IT load has not been disclosed.

The assessment

Friesen Elektra is trying to add a second large electricity user to infrastructure originally planned around hydrogen production. Sharing a grid connection and cooling system could reduce the amount of separate infrastructure required, but permission for the hydrogen project does not automatically cover a data centre.

The 400MW electrolyser rating also cannot be treated as power available to computing. Electrolysers consume electricity to produce hydrogen, so a data-centre proposal needs its own defined load and an operating plan showing how both uses would draw on the site's electricity and cooling infrastructure.

For BTW readers, the zoning application therefore moves the data centre only one step forward. Before a tenant could judge what the site can support, Friesen Elektra would need to set out the computing load, power arrangement and division of shared infrastructure alongside the hydrogen project's own requirements.

What to watch

Watch the zoning decision and any conditions attached to data-centre use at the site. A later design should identify the proposed IT load, electricity supply and cooling requirements, including how shared infrastructure would be divided between hydrogen production and computing. A named tenant or construction timetable would move the proposal closer to delivery.