The Lefdal Mine is located in the region Sogn og Fjordane between Måløy and Nordfjordeid. It is situated next to a deep, cold fjord with a stable and ample supply of price leading CO2-neutral energy (hydroelectric). It has excellent links to the local road network, shipping port, communication and fiber networks, two local airports and a helipad on site. The town of Måløy is considered as one of the most important ports in the coastal region of Sogn og Fjordane and is able to support the technical skills and maintenance requirements for such a remote and secure data center.

The mine today consists of six levels divided into 75 chambers with a potential white space area of 120.000 m².

The entry point leads to a 1300 meters long access road – “Spiral” – which is 14 meters wide and 8.5 meters high. The Spiral gives access to each floor level which has a central access road – “The Avenue”. The Avenue provides direct access to vacant chambers on each floor level, these chambers are the ‘Streets’ and vary in depth (average 100 meters).

With a vast usable floor space, one of the most important factors when designing the facility was the modular and scalability approach.

Containers

The width of the streets allows placement of containers on both side of the street with a transportation route in the middle. The height of the streets is 17 m and the containers are stacked in 3 heights. Using container-based solutions provides a rational production remotely, quick installation in the facility and the equipment can easily be replaced or moved.  The solution includes racks for the containers and access through stairs were applicable.

Data halls

If the customer prefers a traditional data hall one have several options on how to design the hall. LMD has together with IBM and Rittal developed a solution based on three stories concrete buildings with three floors of whitespace. These building are constructed inside the mine and have a low construction cost. Each building will have 2-2.500 m2 of net whitespace. Customers can lease from one Base unit (Cage) to an entire building.

Shelters – Security room

The customer can also choose shelters/security rooms as housing. LMD has together with Rittal developed a special designed shelter solution for perfect fit in the streets. The shelter solution is modular, has quick delivery and can be built in two floors.

Single Location – Dual site

One can use the facility as single location – dual site, either using different streets or different levels in the mine for the two data centers.