Cloudburst-protected data centres – built to withstand climate change
Microsoft’s new data centres in Sandviken and Gävle were built to withstand heavy rainfall and thus the risk of flooding.
“The buildings will be able to withstand even the most extreme cloudburst,” says Patrik Andersson, Head of Water Systems at FVB.
Microsoft announced in the summer that it will invest SEK 33.7 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure in Sweden over the next two years. Expansion of the company’s data centres at Sandviken and Gävle is included in that investment.
Each data centre, which is approximately 24,000 square metres, requires a building permit and a water and sewerage permit. The water connection permit has to be submitted to Sandviken Energi and Gästrike Vatten respectively. Each new-build also requires long-term solutions for dealing with surface water and cloudbursts. This is to meet requirements from the local authorities for surface water management and to mitigate the risk of flooding and damage.
Pinnacle Consulting Engineers are responsible for designing the water management systems in this project. FVB is the sub-consultant for the water connection permit and will also work with validating the design and as expert support. FVB will also check that the design work meets the requirements for surface water and cloudburst management at both sites.
Surface water and cloudbursts are closely related, but with regard to the latter, being able to control drainage of the water optimally before it causes damage has to be taken into account. Normal management of surface water usually involves having sufficient retaining volume and making sure that the water is sufficiently clean before being discharged to the recipient.
“Microsoft’s data centres in Gävle and Sandviken do not use all that much water. They have also been designed with rainwater harvesting tanks and using it to regulate humidity, which is quite an unusual solution in Sweden,” says Andersson.
The average annual rainfall in Gävle is around 600 mm, but in August 2021 a cloudburst released no less than 161 mm rain in less than one day.
“Climate change means more frequent cloudbursts are expected, but such a huge amount of rain still occurs very rarely. The cloudburst in 2021 caused massive flooding and damage, but Microsoft’s data centres survived well without flood damage,” explains Andersson.
That was thanks to Microsoft considering such risks when they built the data centres, to avoid the risk of standing water during this type of flooding. This is also very important for the new data halls being built at Gävle and Sandviken.
“Microsoft's facilities are designed to cope with cloudbursts as a form of extra security,” says Andersson
“Their business is key infrastructure, which means they want to ensure that their activities are not affected by this type of cloudburst, and they are willing to pay the extra cost to implement measures that will prevent flooding,” concludes Andersson.
