The collaboration will see Telia’s Helsinki Data Centre (HDC) take part in a balancing initiative to support Finland’s electricity grid.

The batteries of HDC’s UPS system, which is manufactured by ABB, will provide balancing services for supply and demand fluctuations in the grid, with the aim of promoting the use of renewable forms of energy.

The collaboration comes after the system was tested last summer as part of Fortum Spring’s ‘virtual battery’. Telia’s HDC has since contributed several megawatts of capacity to Fingrid’s Fast Frequency Reserve (FFR) market.

While HDC’s UPS equipment will be used for balancing services in normal operating conditions, if a power outage or similar disruption occurs, the batteries will still be available to power the data centre, said Fortum.

“The Fortum Spring virtual battery solution is cost efficient. The solution utilises the customer’s existing assets to support the power grid without jeopardising the main purpose of the equipment — securing the supply of power for critical processes. This enables a return on investments that traditionally haven’t generated a positive cash flow. At the same time, we are driving the development of the Nordic electricity system towards a cleaner future,” saids Ilari Alaperä, Business Development Manager at Fortum.

Development Manager Harri Vilonen at Telia added, “Utilising HDC’s UPS equipment in the electricity market is an important part of a modern data center and the mitigation of environmental impacts. By participating in the reserve market, we can promote more renewable energy by providing support to the power grid.”