Hima Seafood land-based trout farm in Rjukan, Norway, began operations in the fall of 2025.
Photo: Green Mountain.
Hima Seafood, the company that has established the world's largest land-based trout farm in Rjukan, Norway, yesterday officially launched its joint project to reuse waste heat from Green Mountain's DC2-Telemark data center, located just 800 meters from the aquaculture facility.
This proximity adds to the main reason why Hima chose Rjukan for its trout farm: the cold temperature of its waters throughout the year, ideal for constant production, as well as its pristine quality, which reduces the need for costly purification processes.
Although construction and installation work had already been completed—the system became operational in the fall of 2025, when the land-based trout farm began operations—both companies celebrated the launch of their joint project yesterday at an inauguration ceremony presided over by the Norwegian Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance, Karianne Tung.
In addition to Minister Tung, the Mayor of Tinn municipality, Kathrine Haatvedt, and the County Mayor of Telemark, Sven Tore Løkslid, also attended the event held at Hima Seafood's land-based facility in Rjukan.
As Green Mountain highlighted in its release about the inauguration, its joint initiative with Hima represents an innovative industrial collaboration that combines sustainable data center operations with land-based trout farming.
Specifically, in this project, the trout farmer uses excess heat from Green Mountain's data center to warm the water in its aquaculture systems. As Hima Seafood noted in a previous release, this is energy that would otherwise be released into the air and wasted.
After use, the cooled water can be returned to Green Mountain and integrated into its cooling processes. This closed-loop energy system reduces energy consumption and environmental impact for both companies, "offering a practical demonstration of circular economy principles in action."
As mentioned above, the system became operational in the fall of 2025. In the current phase, the heat reuse system is being tested with a capacity of up to 1.75 MW, while the parties conduct a joint feasibility study to gain operational experience. The knowledge gained in this first phase will guide phase two, which aims to expand the system to 8 MW.
Both Hima and Green Mountain share a firm commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of their operations, something that spokespersons for both companies and the Norwegian Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance highlighted during the inauguration.
"Waste heat is only waste heat if it goes to waste. By utilizing excess heat from Green Mountain, we reduce our energy consumption, minimize our environmental footprint, and strengthen the robustness of our operations," stated Annar Bøhn, CEO of Hima Seafood. "This is a clear win-win solution."
"The collaboration between Green Mountain and Hima Seafood demonstrates how data center and aquaculture industries can create tangible circular economy benefits, reduce their climate footprint, and drive new value creation in rural regions — with Rjukan as an international showcase," said, for his part, Torkild Follaug, Sustainability Director at Green Mountain.
"Norway relies on a secure and robust digital infrastructure, and data centers are a critical part of that foundation. That is why the government wants data centers located in Norway, but we also expect the industry to contribute to a greener future," added the Norwegian Minister of Digitalisation and Public Governance.
"Here in Rjukan, we see a strong collaboration between Green Mountain and Hima Seafood. This is a perfect symbiosis between data centers and new industry, and exactly the kind of partnership we want to see in more data centers," Minister Karianne Tung concluded.
