Sweden\u2019s two large forest owners, Holmen and SCA, are looking beyond timber and wind farms for new uses of their northern estates, with both companies now trying to attract data-center investors to land where electricity is plentiful, industrial sites are large and grid capacity can be easier to secure than farther south. The rapid expansion of computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence has increased demand for locations combining large areas of land with access to substantial volumes of electricity, and northern Sweden has both.<\/p>\n
Much of the region\u2019s power is generated by wind and hydropower in areas where local demand is relatively low. At the same time, Sweden\u2019s transmission grid cannot always move enough electricity south to the country\u2019s main industrial centers. Holmen and SCA are therefore exploring whether part of that surplus can instead be consumed close to where it is produced.<\/p>\n
Holmen is already working on two data-center projects, possibly three, that have moved beyond the earliest discussions, Fredrik Nordqvist, head of Holmen Energy, told Swedish business channel EFN. The company has not named the potential investors or disclosed the locations or expected electricity demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cData centers have appeared as a joker during the past few years. The demand is enormous,\u201d Nordqvist said. \u201cWhere there is demand, there is also a business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holmen\u2019s preferred model would be to sell a suitable site to the investor and, if possible, combine the transaction with a long-term power purchase agreement. The buyer would obtain access to renewable electricity at an agreed price, while Holmen would gain a stable customer for power that is currently difficult to move from northern Sweden to its mills farther south.<\/p>\n
Finland is attracting the projects Sweden wants<\/strong><\/p>\n Across the border, Finland has already become one of Europe\u2019s main locations for new AI and data-center investment. Google recently signed a long-term electricity purchase agreement with Fortum and announced an investment of SEK 13 billion, around \u20ac1.2 billion, in Finnish infrastructure linked to artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Sweden and Finland each have more than 120 operating data centers, according to figures cited by EFN, but Finland has secured a larger share of the latest investment. Electricity prices are only part of the explanation. Permitting and access to grid connections have also played an important role, since a cheap power market offers little advantage to a developer if the required connection takes years to secure.<\/p>\n Jens Nordberg, head of energy trading at Varberg Energi, told EFN that electricity prices alone would have favored a location in Norrland rather than Finland. In practice, investors are also looking at how quickly they can move from selecting a site to obtaining permits, connecting to the grid and beginning construction.<\/p>\n Nordqvist described AI data centers as part of the next industrial revolution and argued that Europe should retain more of this infrastructure rather than see investment concentrated elsewhere. He also sees the same combination of land and electricity attracting other power-intensive industrial projects.<\/p>\n Holmen has power it cannot move south<\/strong><\/p>\n For Holmen, the interest in data centers is closely connected to the geography of its electricity production. The company owns around 1.3 million hectares of forest land, of which roughly one million hectares are productive forest, and its hydropower and wind assets generate about 2 TWh of electricity each year. Even so, that covers only around 60% of the energy consumed by Holmen\u2019s industrial operations.<\/p>\n Much of the electricity is generated in northern Sweden, while a large share of Holmen\u2019s industrial consumption is farther south. Transmission constraints mean that the company cannot move all of its northern production to its mills.<\/p>\n \u201cOur power up there is trapped,\u201d Nordqvist told EFN. \u201cWe have most of the production in the north, but we cannot bring it down to the south, where we have our consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n A large data center built near Holmen\u2019s generation assets would create a local buyer for power that cannot readily be transferred south. Rather than waiting for additional transmission capacity, Holmen could supply an electricity-intensive customer operating around the clock under a long-term contract.<\/p>\n Holmen is unusual among European forest groups because it also has a direct position in hydropower. The company owns six hydropower stations outright and has stakes in another 15. Hydropower can be adjusted more easily than wind generation, giving Holmen additional flexibility when supplying customers with large and continuous electricity requirements.<\/p>\n The company has taken a similar long-term approach to wind power. Instead of limiting its involvement to leasing forest land to external developers, Holmen has developed, built and retained ownership of wind farms itself. Data centers would extend that approach into land development combined with direct electricity sales.<\/p>\n SCA is seeing the same interest<\/strong><\/p>\n SCA has also received enquiries from data-center investors, according to Martin Ingels, head of wind power at the company, although he declined to identify the parties involved or discuss individual projects.<\/p>\n SCA owns 2.7 million hectares, including around 2.1 million hectares of productive forest, making it Europe\u2019s largest private forest owner. Around 20% of Sweden\u2019s installed wind-power capacity is located on SCA land.<\/p>\n The company has already mapped its estate to identify what Swedish developers call effektmark: sites where large electricity users have a realistic chance of securing the required grid connection. Holmen has carried out similar work.<\/p>\n Ingels does not accept the idea that northern Sweden\u2019s electricity networks are inherently less suitable for these investments than Finland\u2019s. SCA is in regular contact with Eon, Ellevio and Vattenfall and says it has a clear picture of where large new connections can be accommodated.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very good opportunities to connect up here compared with many other locations,\u201d Ingels told EFN. \u201cYou cannot place a data center anywhere, but it is not the case that the grids here are worse or less developed than in Finland.\u201d<\/p>\n SCA itself consumes around 2 TWh of electricity a year across its industrial operations. Since the Fasikan wind farm entered service, the company has become self-sufficient in electricity on an annual basis. Its renewable-energy activities already include wind power, bioenergy, renewable fuels and other uses of its land, and data centers would add another type of tenant and electricity customer to that portfolio.<\/p>\n Holmen would sell; SCA prefers to lease<\/strong><\/p>\n A large AI data center can require around 100\u2013150 hectares, but finding enough land is only the first step. A viable site also needs access to a high-capacity grid connection, fiber infrastructure and water or another workable cooling system.<\/p>\n Holmen believes most developers will want to own the site beneath such a large and permanent investment. Its preferred structure would therefore be to subdivide and sell the land, then enter into a long-term electricity contract with the buyer. Nordqvist said that if he were investing the sums required for a data center, he too would be reluctant to build it on leased ground.<\/p>\n SCA takes a different view. The company has built a long-term leasing business around its forest estate and would rather retain ownership of the land. That is already how much of its wind-power business operates: external developers use the site, SCA receives rent and the underlying property remains part of the estate.<\/p>\n \u201cOur starting point is to obtain the greatest possible return from our land holdings,\u201d Ingels said. \u201cLease income from wind power is profitable for us.\u201d<\/p>\n SCA would prefer to combine a long-term land lease with an electricity purchase agreement. It is not ruling out a sale if that became necessary to secure a project, but selling land is not its preferred route. Holmen is therefore more willing to convert selected sites into a property transaction followed by a long-term energy relationship, while SCA would rather retain the asset and generate recurring income from both the site and the electricity consumed there.<\/p>\n More value from the same forest estate<\/strong><\/p>\n Neither Holmen nor SCA is changing the basic role of forestry or wood processing within its business. What is changing is the number of commercial uses that can be built around a large forest estate.<\/p>\n Land in northern Sweden can already generate value through timber production, wind power, hunting rights, conservation and other activities. Where grid access and infrastructure allow it, the same estate can also accommodate large industrial customers whose primary requirement is electricity rather than wood.<\/p>\n A data-center site could therefore generate several forms of income at once, including a land sale or lease, electricity sales and potentially further renewable-energy development around the project. For a forest company that already owns both the land and part of the local power supply, much of the commercial groundwork is already in place before an investor arrives.<\/p>\n Holmen and SCA have no intention of building or operating the data centers themselves. Their role would be to provide the land, power and infrastructure package required by groups such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services or other cloud and AI operators.<\/p>\n No agreement with any of these companies has yet been announced in connection with the Swedish sites. Holmen has kept the identity of the investors behind its projects confidential, while SCA has confirmed only that enquiries have been received.<\/p>\n The competition with Finland will depend less on whether northern Sweden has enough land or renewable electricity than on how quickly those assets can be turned into investable sites. Sweden already has low-cost power, large forest estates and owners willing to make land available. The remaining question is whether permitting and grid decisions can move quickly enough for developers that are comparing several Nordic locations at the same time.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sweden\u2019s two large forest owners, Holmen and SCA, are looking beyond timber and wind farms for new uses of their northern estates, with both companies now trying to attract data-center investors to land where electricity is plentiful, industrial sites are … Continue reading