Sunly’s solar farm in Risti, Lääne County. Source: Sunly

Renewable energy company Sunly has submitted an application to build the largest data centre in the Baltic states in Lääne County, western Estonia, costing approximately €1.7 billion.

The company says the 180-megawatt-capacity facility in Risti, Lääne-Nigula Municipality, would become Estonia’s largest electricity consumer and create more than 150 new jobs, according to the newspaper Lääne Elu.

“We want to create the conditions necessary for the infrastructure needed to apply artificial intelligence in Estonia,” said company head Priit Lepasepp.

He added that Risti’s location enables linking local renewable energy production to large-scale electricity consumption.

Sunly is currently developing the Baltic states’ largest solar park in the same area and planning new wind energy developments and a battery storage park.

Lääne-Nigula Municipality said the planning application process could take up to eight months, and Sunly could begin constructing data centre buildings in stages in line with client demand, if approved.

Data centre to bring AI home

Sunly energy hub development lead Kaarel Aus noted that no data centre in the Baltic region currently runs or trains AI models, meaning user queries are processed abroad. 

The planned facility in Risti would do both locally, he said, part of a rapidly expanding global industry driven by demand for computing power. It would also serve as a major consumer for electricity produced at Sunly’s future energy park.

“In short, we’ll have a hybrid park that can cover most of the data centre’s energy needs,” Aus said.

“If things go well, the first phases could be up and running by 2028 already,” he added.

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