Belgian data center firm LCL Data Centers has powered up three wind turbines in Belgium with a combined capacity of 6.9MW.
The wind turbines, which cost an estimated €13 million ($13.64 million), will be located in Rumst, Kontich, and Dendermonde, Belgium.
Each turbine will have a capacity of 2.3MW and, according to the company, will contribute to LCL’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
Laurens van Reijen, managing director of LCL Data Centers, said: “One of the KPIs that we included in our first sustainability report, two years ago, was to produce 40 percent of the energy we consume by 2030. LCL wants to link energy generation to its production, in this case via our own wind turbines.”
The power from the turbines will be fed directly into the grid, aligning with LCL’s strategy of building new generation rather than purchasing existing capacity through long-term supply agreements.
LCL links its climate neutrality to its commitment to the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). The SBTi initiative targets a 42 percent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and a commitment to offset the remaining emissions through sustainable projects, such as replacing diesel fuels with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).
In October 2022, LCL announced its first HVO deployment at LCL Brussels-West in Aalst, where the company invested in six new 2.25MVA generators.
Last year, LCL completed the expansion of a solar park at the LCL Wallonia One data center in Gembloux, Belgium. The expansion added 1,300 photovoltaic panels to the existing 2,000, increasing the park's overall capacity from 1MW to 1.6MW and covering 10 percent of the data center's energy needs.
In addition, LCL said that it hopes to deploy heat recovery technology on the site to potentially use excess heat from Wallonia One to warm nearby facilities.
LCL currently operates five data centers in the Belgian market. Last April, the company announced a €30 million ($32.6m) investment into the expansion of its Brussels-North facility.
The company said the design of its new facility has been certified as Tier III by Uptime Institute. The facility will also prioritize sustainability with the data center operator upgrading cooling installations and considering alternative cooling methods.
