Data centres keep digital services running but raise local concerns

Protests against data centres have taken place across Europe in recent weeks, and the issue has featured in debate ahead of the US midterm elections. ERR’s weekly programme AK. Nädal examined what data centres do and whether modern life can function without them.

At first glance, a data centre may look like a large industrial building. Inside, however, it houses infrastructure used by almost all modern digital services. Everyday activities such as bank transfers, video calls, artificial intelligence queries, social media and navigation rely on data centres.

“A data centre is essentially an internet factory that keeps the internet running,” said Kaarel Aus, development manager at Sunly’s energy centre. He said servers in data centres run online services, while artificial intelligence requires particularly large amounts of capacity for training and operation.

Data centres are also strategic infrastructure for countries, said Gert Jervan, dean of the School of Information Technologies at Tallinn University of Technology. Estonia needs local capacity to store national data, he said. If the country’s external connections were disrupted, including cables running under the sea or through the Suwalki corridor, it could become difficult to keep Estonia’s digital services operating.

Noise and water use are among the concerns people raise when a data centre is planned nearby. Aus said the facilities are not moving out of cities because of noise, but because they need access to electricity. Several smaller data centres already operate in Tallinn, he said.

Cooling equipment is the main source of noise at data centres, Jervan said. Estonia’s cool climate provides much of the cooling, but warm summer days require additional energy and can bring more noise. He said noise assessments are carried out to identify possible disturbances and ways to reduce them.

Data centres use large amounts of electricity, and their environmental impact depends in part on where that power comes from, Jervan said. Their development requires planning for electricity grids and energy generation. He added that renewable energy is one potential source of power for the facilities.