LCL Data Centers, a data center operator from Belgium, has committed to investing €120 million in its infrastructure over the next two years. The data center colocation provider plans to allocate resources towards both growth and sustainability. More precisely, LCL plans to spend €20 million on sustainability and €100 million in two expansion projects in the areas of Diegem and Aalst.
LCL plans to put solar panels on the façade of LCL Brussels-North (Diegem), among other things. The investments are intended to help LCL grow into a more extensive and long-lasting Belgo-European data center network.
“We must keep building up our current data centers and outfitting them with sustainable technologies if we are to keep up our dominant position in the Belgian data center market,” said Laurens van Reijen, Managing Director of LCL Data Centers. “If we are to welcome and assist as many clients as possible, this is important. The investments we want to make will benefit both our business and our current and potential clients.”
Diegem and Aalst Data Center Growth
Laurens van Reijen, Managing Director of LCL Data Centers.LCL has decided to expand two of its data centers, LCL Brussels-West located in Aalst and LCL Brussels-North located in Diegem, with an investment of €100 million. Due to an increase in clients, both of these data centers are now quite crowded. LCL says it has 10% yearly growth, and the data center business must develop to meet this expansion.
In Aalst, efforts to expand the current data center have already begun. The completion date of this project is March 2025. There will be further data rooms constructed, totaling 2,367 m². December 2023 will see the commencement of work on the Diegem data center expansion, which will last until October 2025. The structure will gain four more stories, for a total of five stories, almost matching the size of the PwC office next door. In addition to a 4,000 m² data room, construction has already begun on a mains connection for an extra 24 MW.
Finances Allocated to Sustainability
Regarding sustainability, LCL intends to allocate the majority of its available money to renewable energy projects as well as initiatives targeted at raising its Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and lowering its carbon footprint.
To produce sustainable energy, LCL plans to put solar panels on the façade of LCL Brussels-North (Diegem), among other things. Furthermore, by 2030, LCL wants all of its data centers' PUEs to be 1.3. Right now, the only one with a PUE lower than 1.3 would be LCL Brussels-West (Aalst). The data center operator will do this, for instance, by making investments in cooling systems that use less energy. Lastly, among other things, LCL plans to lower its carbon emissions by continuing to electrify its fleet, using HVO100, a sustainable fuel, for all of its emergency generators, and installing upgraded leak detectors in its cooling facilities.
Sustainability Investment
LCL Data Centers has said time and time again that it thinks sustainability is crucial. When it committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact (CNDCP), the data center expert reaffirmed this two years ago. In addition, LCL joined Voka's Sustainable Entrepreneurship Charter 2023 last year, and the data center operator released its first-ever ESG report in June 2023. This report includes particular KPIs for reaching LCL's sustainability objectives.
"With the help of these investments, we will be able to achieve the sustainability objectives outlined in our ESG report and eventually take the lead in the Belgian data center industry," concluded Laurens van Reijen.
