A project to develop a data center in a mine has launched in the Italian Alps.
Trentino DataMine and its partners this week announced work had started to install a facility in an active mine in a mountain at Val di Non, 40 km north of Trento.
First announced last year, the Intacture data center will sit within a dolomite mine owned by mining company Tassullo. It will offer 5MW and is set to go live in 2026.
The €50.2 million ($54.73m) project was partly funded by the Italian government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), to the tune of €18.4m ($20m).
The project is being led by Trentino DataMine, a company that has been established as a public-private partnership by the University of Trento, construction firm Covi Costruzioni, technology firm Dedagroup (Deda), GPI Group, and ISA-Istituto Atesino di Sviluppo.
"With this project, we are now a point of reference in Europe for research and development, and we contribute to the creation of one of the few sustainable digital innovation hubs worldwide," said Flavio Deflorian, the rector of the University of Trento.
"As a university, we must be future-oriented, placing young people and new generations at the center of change. I believe that sustainable innovation is one of the keys to building a better future, and what we will achieve together and manage in the public-private partnership is aimed at creating solutions that have a positive impact on the environment and society, for today and for the future."
The company carrying out the construction work is In-Site.
In-Site founder and CEO, Pietro Matteo Foglio, said: "Our aim was to push the boundaries of what a data center can be, by integrating cutting-edge technology, sustainability, and community engagement. Intacture represents the future of data management, emphasizing sustainability and a deep respect for the natural environment that surrounds it."
A similar underground data center is the Lefdal Mine data center located in Måløy, Norway. In April last year, the company announced that it was planning to increase the facility's IT capacity from 20MW to 80MW.
In Sardinia, IT firm Dauvea is looking to convert a disused government-owned silver mine on the Italian island into a 2MW data center.
