At Heggvin between Hamar and Løten, huge, green halls are being erected in record time. Here, Green Mountain has started high from the start. They have promised at least 350 permanent full-time employees at what will be Europe’s largest data center of its kind. The company is so sure of the positions that it is stipulated in the agreement that they must pay a fine of NOK 100,000 for every computer job that does not come. Now that the first building is ready for occupation – how are they going to deliver on their promises? That is why there is great skepticism towards data center jobs. There has been no shortage of gold and green forests when large players want to take advantage of Norwegian power. The data center in Ballangen between Lofoten and Narvik is perhaps the worst example. The former municipality gave away a giant plot of land in exchange for 3,000 jobs at what was to become “the world’s largest data centre”. It never came to fruition. Likewise with the data center in Nord-Østerdalen, where Russian investors were to mine for bitcoin. It ended in a settlement, and the company that was to build the data park was forcibly dissolved. Nor should Facebook’s establishment of the data center in Luleå in the north of Sweden have turned out as imagined. Finnish YLE revealed in 2020 that thousands of jobs were actually about 56 employees. The number of employees has been adjusted upwards to approximately 400, according to a Swedish government report. Full operation until winter Barely a year after Hamar and Løten said yes to the data centre, the first employees are in place. Work is now starting to prepare the first computer hall. 3,000 server racks will enter the building in February. Then it’s data hall number two’s turn at Easter, and the third in the summer. Before Green Mountain started work on Heggvin, the area was covered by forest and fields. Photo: Hamar municipality March 2023, half a year after the local politicians in Løten and Hamar said yes to the data centre, half a building was in place. Now the first building is occupied by the first, permanent employees who will work with the operations on site. Photo: Reidar Gregersen Regional director of Green Mountain Innlandet, Are Koppang, is confident that there will be around 70 permanent employees per building. Each building will have three floors. The total floor area per building is 6,000 square meters. That’s almost the equivalent of an entire football field. – Imagine that all floors must be kept clean 24/7. It’s quite a job. Green Mountain is investing NOK 15 billion in Heggvin, and says they have used around 60 percent of the funds so far. Including TikTok’s adjusted investments, there is talk of approximately NOK 37 billion in total, according to regional director Are Koppang in Green Mountain Innlandet. Photo: Reidar Gregersen Making sure that the computing power that provides the video content for TikTok is stable is about being ready for anything that can happen. Green Mountain is responsible for the infrastructure, and employs the experts on all systems in and around the buildings. Heggvin will be staffed around the clock. Green Mountain has an agreement with CBRE, which recruits and employs the technicians on the “floor”. Green Mountain also has an agreement with the security company Avarn Securities. So far, around 50 positions for operations have been filled, says Koppang. The appointments are made by Green Mountain and CBRE. Security and cleaning staff are added. These are the jobs at the TikTok data center Status as of October 2023 Occupational groups/subjects: Electricians, automatists, mechanics, plumbers, refrigeration fitters, engineers, security system specialists, security guards, cleaners, finance, IT technicians, HSE and quality, HR, management Green Mountain: Administration and management: 10 Local technical management: 7 Joint technical personnel: 3 CBRE: Avarn: Security personnel, coming from 1 November Cleaning: In addition there will be miscellaneous external work on the building mass, snow removal etc. TikTok: Municipal management + IT technicians: There is an estimated need for 60+ permanent employees, recruitment is ongoing Source : Green Mountain Inlandet Employer: TikTok And the answer to the big question, whether TikTok will actually have its own employees at Heggvin, is yes. According to Koppang, the partly Chinese-owned company is in talks with various companies to start recruitment. – When we reach our goal of three buildings, we will have over 200 employees in total. Then TikTok’s employees will amount to 60-plus people. The agreement between Green Mountain and TikTok is namely three buildings in the data center in the first instance. TikTok has an option for two more. Koppang does not want to advance anything, but says it is no secret that TikTok has expressed that they want to build the last two buildings. This summer, Green Mountain received security clearance from the government, thus agreeing to house TikTok. They will be the only customer at the data center at Heggvin. Photo: Reidar Gregersen And TikTok is, according to Koppang, in a hurry. – They are pushing us to finish as soon as possible. So it’s a punch, I promise you. news has been in contact with TikTok Norden. They did not wish to comment on the matter. Competition for labor Koppang says that getting the first employees has gone “surprisingly well”. But eventually recruitment will become more difficult, believes Bjørn Cirkus Wiik. He is executive vice president for commercial activities at the staffing and recruitment agency Adecco. They do not work with Green Mountain or TikTok, but have experience with similar recruitment jobs for data centers in Sweden. Wiik points out that low unemployment, a tight labor market and little labor immigration to Norway mean that there is a shortage of labour. In the long term, Green Mountain and TikTok must look beyond the country’s borders, Wiik believes. The operators within data storage will be exposed to profitability pressure, believes Bjørn Cirkus Wiik in Adecco. – This means many unskilled employees, which means great pressure on salary levels. Then it is difficult to get competent people who want to move. Photo: Adecco – It will have major ripple effects for the entire region if they succeed in the recruitment. At the same time, it must be remembered that they are fishing for labor in the same pond as local companies. Wiik refers to Nav’s company survey from May, where one in four companies in the Inland state say they have problems recruiting enough labour. There will also be very large market competition from abroad in data storage and battery production, says Wiik. MDG: – So far so good – We expect Green Mountain to deliver on what they have said. So far it looks good, says Jon Lurås of the Green Party in Løten when he hears that 50 employees are in place. He points out that MDG is happy about the jobs, but not that the electricity use goes to TikTok. – Here, national authorities must ensure that our electricity goes to proper things in the future. Jon Lurås in the Green Party in Løten cheers for the workplaces, but not for the owner of the servers that will enter the data centre. – TikTok is a company that is not entirely compatible with our values, he says. Photo: Reidar Gregersen – Putting Hamar on the map Hamar’s new mayor Vigdis Stensby (BBL) for his part believes that the establishment is about contributing to important infrastructure in society. – Without a data storage centre, no speed in digitalisation. We have to store data somewhere, so this is something Norway needs. Mayor of Hamar, Vigdis Stensby (BBL), believes that many business actors have noticed the good cooperation between Løten and Hamar municipalities to get the data center in place quickly. Photo: Reidar Gregersen / news Investing in data centers in Norway means refining Norwegian power on Norwegian soil, says Are Koppang in Green Mountain. – We are creating jobs in an internationally extremely fast-growing industry here in Norway, instead of sending the power on cables out of the country.
ttn-69
This is how it should be run – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
