The Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece and Serverfarm have signed a Heads of Term agreement to form a joint venture.
The joint venture, Gemini, aims to construct and operate hyperscale-ready data center facilities on IPTO-owned sites in Athens and elsewhere in Greece.
Gemini plans to construct a 130MW hyperscale data center in Athens and establish an extensive ecosystem of data centers to meet the growing demand for cloud service providers, content delivery networks, and enterprises in the Greek market.
IPTO will provide a power supply for the data center and select IPTO-owned sites with access to power and optical fiber networks to construct the facilities. Serverfarm will design and operate the data centers.
“Our strategic partnership with IPTO, underscores our mission to invest in transformative projects that create long-term value. The Greek data center market is still one of the most under-served in Europe, but at the same time, its geographical location makes it ideal to serve as a data gateway between continents,” said Avner Papouchado, founder and CEO of Severfarm.
According to the company, the data centers will be built with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. Subsequently, they will deploy advanced cooling technologies onsite and utilize renewable energy to power their operations.
“We fully exploit synergies and create win-win business opportunities, transforming Greece into a critical energy and data hub of high geopolitical value at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia,” Manos Manousakis, chairman and CEO of IPTO, said.
In recent years, Greece has become a hub for renewable energy due to its high solar and wind potential. In the first half of 2024, 60 percent of the country’s electricity came from renewable sources, according to IPTO.
The Greek data center market is also on a positive growth trajectory. Given its geographical position between Europe, Asia, and Africa, the country's integration is supported by the landing of several submarine cables on its shores. As a result, the Greek data center market is expected to more than double by 2030.
In 2024, several major data center developers announced projects in the country.
Earlier this month, Edgnex announced plans to develop a 12.5MW data center in Athens, Greece. The first phase will see a €150 million ($157m) investment to develop the initial 12.5MW of capacity, with plans to scale up to 25MW in subsequent phases.
In November, Data4 broke ground on a new data center campus in Athens. In September, the company announced plans for a 90MW campus. The €300 million ($331m) AT1 site is on 7.5 hectares. The first of the two buildings will go live in early 2027.
Serverfarm, founded in 2009 by real estate development firm Red Sea Group, was acquired by Manulife last year. The company operates eight other data centers in North America, Europe, and Israel, with a total of 1.5 million gross square feet (139,400 sqm) of data center space and 125MW of IT capacity.
In September, the company acquired two data centers in Houston, Texas. The sites total 250 acres and more than 500MW; both campuses have on-site substations with unused available capacity.