Data centre design reference

Generic reference designs for power, cooling, controls and operations

Designing in Norway

Design points that depend on the Norwegian setting: climate, grid, regulation and heat reuse.

On this page
  1. What changes in Norway
  2. Climate and heat
  3. Surplus heat: analyse before you build
  4. Registration with Nkom
  5. Electrical rules
  6. Grid connection
  7. Tax and policy
  8. Sources

What changes in Norway

The engineering on the other pages holds anywhere. What Norway changes is the setting: a cool climate, a grid where capacity is reserved in order of project maturity, a duty to analyse the use of surplus heat, a registration duty for operators, and electrical rules of its own. This page lists the rules that become design inputs, as written in the texts in force when this page was written.

Check before you rely on it. Several of these rules changed in 2025 and 2026, and one amendment is adopted but not yet in force. Each statement below cites the text it comes from. Read the current text before a decision rests on it.

Climate and heat

In a favourable, cool climate, warm-water liquid cooling can reject its heat with dry coolers and no chillers for most of the year12 (see heat rejection). The same climate gives district-heating networks a long heating season, which is what makes data-centre heat worth selling. The Norwegian government notes that data-centre heat has a relatively low temperature, and that several Norwegian data centres already deliver their surplus heat.3

Surplus heat: analyse before you build

The Energy Act requires a cost-benefit analysis of surplus-heat use for data centres with more than 2 MW of supplied electrical power.4 The analysis must be approved by NVE before construction starts,5 under a regulation in force from 1 April 2025.6 A data centre with concrete, documented plans to deliver its heat to a district-heating network is exempt from the analysis.6 The developer may write the analysis itself or have a third party write it, and stays responsible for its content.5

The duty is to analyse, not to deliver. NVE can make use of the heat a condition of approval when the analysis shows a positive result, but that power does not apply to data centres.7

The rules are moving. In June 2026 the Storting passed amendments to the surplus-heat sections unanimously,8 but they take effect only from a date the King decides, and none was set in the text read.4 The 2025 consultation behind them proposed lowering the data-centre threshold from 2 MW to 1 MW.9 It also proposed changing Energy Act § 7-4 so that, as a rule, a developer cannot build without using the surplus heat when the analysis shows that the benefits outweigh the costs, and removing the present exemption for data centres.9 If that is adopted, the duty for data centres would no longer stop at analysis. The EU energy-efficiency directive, which has its own waste-heat duty for data centres above 1 MW,10 is still in the EEA process.11

Design position. For a site above 2 MW, put the cost-benefit analysis into the design programme so that NVE's approval is in hand before construction, and check whether the 1 MW threshold and the removal of the § 7-4 exemption are in force before the site is sized. Where concrete plans to deliver the heat to a district-heating network exist, document them: they exempt the site from the analysis. The heat-export connection on the cooling page is what the analysis evaluates, so design it first.

Registration with Nkom

A data-centre operator must register with the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) before operation starts.12 Commercial operators have had the duty since 1 January 2025.13 Every commercial operator registers, whatever its size; the 0.5 MW threshold applies only to in-house data centres.14 Since 1 July 2026 the registration must also name the owner of the building the data centre is in.15

Registration is not a design approval, but the data it asks for (operator, capacity, building owner) belongs in the handover record from the start.

Electrical rules

The low-voltage regulation (FEL) covers installations up to 1,000 V AC or 1,500 V DC.16 Above those limits, high-voltage installations in industrial and similar plants fall under the regulation for supply installations (FEF), so a site's medium-voltage switchboard and transformers are designed to FEF.17

NEK 400:2026 became the current edition for design and installation on 1 July 2026; NEK 400:2022 may still be used for design through 2026, with those installations finished by the end of 2027.18

Design position. ±400 V and 800 V DC distribution are low-voltage installations under these limits, so they are designed to FEL and NEK 400 like the AC side. This settles which rules apply, not whether hall-level DC distribution is ready to build: see the DC position on power for AI halls. Fix the NEK 400 edition at project start and write it into the design basis. The medium-voltage plant follows FEF.

Grid connection

The area grid company has a duty to connect new loads.4 Capacity is reserved in order of project maturity: Statnett requires a project to be mature both to reserve capacity and to keep the reservation, and the first customer to meet the requirements reserves first.19 In one northern area Statnett has paused new reservations for consumers above 5 MW and puts new customers in a queue while it studies the grid.20

Demand from data centres is large: Statnett's connection statistics showed 3,841 MW reserved for data centres in August 2026.21 Since 1 July 2026 the King can also order a grid company to give one named customer priority when national security requires it.4

This review found no published Norwegian requirement on the ramp rates of computational loads. In North America the reliability body has issued an alert asking for UPS settings and the expected maximum ramp rates of such loads.22 Expect the question from the grid company.

Design position. Treat the grid connection as the first long-lead item. Meet the maturity requirements early, agree capacity, ramp behaviour and ride-through with the grid company before the design is frozen (see power for AI halls), and record the reserved capacity in the design basis.

Tax and policy

Data centres pay electricity tax at the ordinary rate, 7.13 øre per kWh when stated in February 2026; the reduced rate for data centres was abolished in 2023.23

Policy is still forming. In February 2026 the Storting's energy committee recommended that the Storting ask the government to assess the social benefit of different data-centre establishments; a national concession scheme appeared only in minority proposals.13

The EU's NIS2 directive names data-centre service providers among the entities it covers (see operational security). This review could not confirm that NIS2 is part of the EEA Agreement, so check its status before you plan on its reporting duties.

Sources

  1. Hotter Than a Hot Tub: The 45°C Breakthrough to Cool AI’s Biggest Machines. NVIDIA, 2026-06-21. Read 2026-10-18.https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/liquid-cooling-ai-factories/
  2. Direct Liquid Cooling System Challenges in Data Centers (White Paper 210, Version 1). Schneider Electric. Read 2026-10-18.https://media.datacenterdynamics.com/media/documents/WP210_V1_EN.pdf
  3. The data centre industry - a sustainable industry of the future for the digital Norway (chapter 5). Norwegian Government (regjeringen.no). Read 2026-10-18.https://www.regjeringen.no/en/documents/the-data-centre-industry-a-sustainable-industry-of-the-future-for-the-digital-norway/id3112356/?ch=5
  4. Energiloven (LOV-1990-06-29-50). Lovdata. Read 2026-10-18.https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1990-06-29-50
  5. Kost-nytteanalyse av overskuddsvarme: § 4 Plikt til å gjennomføre kost-nytteanalyser. NVE, 2025-03-27. Read 2026-10-18.https://veiledere.nve.no/kost-nytteanalyse-av-overskuddsvarme/kapittel-2-plikt-til-a-gjennomfore-kost-nytteanalyse/4-plikt-til-a-gjennomfore-kost-nytteanalyser/
  6. Forskrift om kost-nytteanalyse av mulighetene for å utnytte overskuddsvarme (FOR-2024-09-25-2263). Lovdata, 2024-09-25. Read 2026-10-18.https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2024-09-25-2263
  7. Kost-nytteanalyse av mulighetene for å utnytte overskuddsvarme. NVE. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.nve.no/energi/virkemidler/kost-nytteanalyse-av-mulighetene-for-aa-utnytte-overskuddsvarme/
  8. Endringer i energiloven (utnyttelse av overskuddsvarme og krav til automatiske styringssystemer), Innst. 277 L (2025–2026). Stortinget, 2026-06-19. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/?p=200132
  9. Høring av forslag til endringer i energiloven om utnyttelse av overskuddsvarme. Regjeringen (Energidepartementet), 2025-09-04. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/horing-av-forslag-til-endringer-i-energiloven-om-utnyttelse-av-overskuddsvarme/id3117745/
  10. Directive (EU) 2023/1791 on energy efficiency (recast). Publications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), 2023. Read 2026-10-18.https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023L1791
  11. Energieffektiviseringsdirektivet (2023). europalov.no, 2026-04-17. Read 2026-10-18.https://europalov.no/rettsakt/energieffektiviseringsdirektivet-2023/id-29284
  12. Forskrift om datasenter (FOR-2024-12-18-3313). Lovdata, 2024-12-18. Read 2026-10-18.https://lovdata.no/nav/forskrift/2024-12-18-3313
  13. Innst. 140 S (2025–2026), Dokument 8:60 S (2025–2026): konsesjonsordning for etablering av datasentre. Stortinget, energi- og miljøkomiteen, 2026-02-24. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.stortinget.no/globalassets/pdf/innstillinger/stortinget/2025-2026/inns-202526-140s.pdf
  14. Ofte stilte spørsmål om datasenterregistrering. Nasjonal kommunikasjonsmyndighet (Nkom). Read 2026-10-18.https://nkom.no/datasenter/registrering-ofte-stilte-sporsmal
  15. Endringer i energiloven og datasenterforskriften: hva betyr dette for datasenterbransjen. CMS Norway (law firm), 2026-07-27. Read 2026-10-18.https://cms.law/no/nor/publikasjon/endringer-i-energiloven-og-datasenterforskriften-hva-betyr-dette-for-datasenterbransjen
  16. Forskrift om elektriske lavspenningsanlegg (FEL), FOR-1998-11-06-1060. Lovdata. Read 2026-10-18.https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/1998-11-06-1060
  17. Forskrift om elektriske forsyningsanlegg med veiledning (FEF). DSB. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.dsb.no/elsikkerhet/elektriske-forsyningsanlegg/veiledning-til-forskrift-om-elektriske-forsyningsanlegg/
  18. Overgangsregler for NEK 400. DSB (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap). Read 2026-10-18.https://www.dsb.no/elsikkerhet/elektriske-anlegg-og-utstyr/overgangsregler-for-nek-400/
  19. Statnett har oppdatert tilknytningsprosessen. Statnett. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.statnett.no/for-aktorer-i-kraftbransjen/nyhetsarkiv/statnett-har-oppdatert-tilknytningsprosessen/
  20. Svarbrev til RME om tilknytningsplikt nord for Svartisen. Statnett, 2026-06-15. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.statnett.no/globalassets/for-aktorer-i-kraftsystemet/nyheter-for-aktorer-i-kraftbransjen/svarbrev-rme---tilknytningsplikt-nord-for-svartisen-15.06.2026.pdf
  21. NVE har samlet informasjon om datasentre. NVE, 2026-08-12. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.nve.no/nytt-fra-nve/nyheter-energi/nve-har-samlet-informasjon-om-datasentre
  22. Essential Action to Industry: Computational Load Modeling, Studies, Instrumentation, Commissioning, Operations, Protection, and Control. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), 2026-05-04. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.nerc.com/globalassets/programs/bpsa/alerts/level-3-computational-load-alert.pdf
  23. Dokument 8:105 S (2025–2026): letter from Finansdepartementet on a representative proposal for higher electricity tax on data centres. Finansdepartementet, 2026-02-19. Read 2026-10-18.https://www.stortinget.no/globalassets/pdf/innstillinger/stortinget/2025-2026/inns-202526-183s-vedlegg.pdf