The German data center provider Hetzner has announced the creation of HT Clean Energy GmbH, a joint venture with solar power developer MHB Montage, aimed at driving renewable energy and large-scale storage projects.
The company’s first major project is a 6.5 MW solar park covering seven hectares in Nassau-Weikersheim, in central Germany. Additionally, Hetzner has confirmed that it is working on other solar developments with the ambition of fully powering its data centers with self-generated energy in the long term.
“Our goal is to meet the growing energy demand of our data centers, but to do so using renewable energy generated by ourselves. With this initiative, we take on the responsibility of providing our customers with a sustainable IT infrastructure,” stated Martin Hetzner, the company’s founder.
Expansion and Sustainability in Data Centers
Hetzner Online, founded in 1997, is one of the leading private hosting companies in Europe. It currently operates two data center campuses in Germany, located in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, and expanded its infrastructure to Finland in 2018. It also has data parks in Virginia and Oregon (USA), as well as Singapore, where it launched cloud services last year.
The new commitment to solar energy reinforces the trend of sustainability in the data center sector in Germany. Companies like Maincubes have already adopted similar models, securing long-term renewable energy contracts, such as the 34 MW PPA agreement with Stadtwerke Göttingen AG signed in 2023.
A Long-Term Strategy for a Greener Future
MHB Montage, Hetzner’s partner in this initiative, is a company specialized in the planning, installation, and maintenance of photovoltaic systems. Based in Merkendorf, Bavaria, the company develops solutions for both ground-mounted and rooftop systems.
Through this alliance, Hetzner aims not only to optimize its energy consumption but also to reduce its carbon footprint and establish a model for sustainable data centers in the future.
via: DCD