Microsoft Corp. early today announced plans to develop two new “world-class” data centers in Sweden that it promises will be among the “most sustainable” ever built, completely powered by renewable energy sources with plans for zero-waste operations.

The data centers will be located in the cities of Gävle and Sandviken, just north of the capital Stockholm. Power will be supplied by the sustainable energy firm Vattenfall AB, which already sells 100% of the electricity generated by its Wieringermeer Polder wind farm in the Netherlands to Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft said it will work with Vattenfall to try to reduce the carbon footprint of the new data centers to zero.

“Vattenfall is fully committed to help our customers make fossil free living possible within one generation, so this partnership fits very well with our overall strategy,” said Andreas Regnell, Vattenfall’s senior vice president of strategic development.

In a blog post, Microsoft maintained that it’s equally committed to a fossil-free future, noting that it’s operated as a carbon-neutral company since 2012. But it still aims to do much more for the environment, setting itself a goal of running its data centers on 70% renewable energy by 2023, and eventually 100%.

“We intend for our data centers in Sweden to be among the most sustainably designed and operated in the world with the ultimate ambition of achieving zero-carbon operations,” said Noelle Walsh, Microsoft’s vice president of cloud operations and innovation. “The data center design we’re developing will further Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future,”

Microsoft’s green energy commitments go beyond just running clean data centers. It’s also working with Norwegian companies Agder Energi, which is another producer of renewable energy, and Powel AS, which provides software solutions for the utilities industry, to increase access to clean energy.

Other tech giants are doing their bit too. Google LLC, for example, last year invested $310 million into the construction of a new data center in Belgium that will include an onsite solar farm that generates all of its energy. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. is looking at ways of making data centers themselves more energy-efficient, for example with its new StatePoint Liquid Cooling system that works by creating cold water instead of cold air.

The Swedish data centers will have a practical use too, of course. Microsoft said it had chosen Sweden “in anticipation of future needs for cloud and internet services as demand in Europe continues to grow.” In Europe, Microsoft already operates data centers in Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the U.K., and is currently building others in Norway and Switzerland.

Photo: Suwit Luangpipatsorn/Pixabay