{"id":392814,"date":"2025-08-04T09:59:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T07:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=392814"},"modified":"2025-08-04T09:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T07:59:50","slug":"i-was-wrong-green-europe-is-building-at-least-one-us-scale-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=392814","title":{"rendered":"I was Wrong \u2013 Green Europe is Building at Least One US Scale AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Workers<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 230MW AI campus to be powered by Norwegian Hydro has been announced \u2013 but competition for electricity and rising prices are already causing political unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

July 31, 2025 Global Affairs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing Stargate Norway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re launching Stargate Norway\u2014OpenAI\u2019s first AI data center initiative in Europe under our OpenAI for Countries<\/u>\u2060<\/a> program. Stargate is OpenAI\u2019s overarching infrastructure platform and is a critical part of our long-term vision to deliver the benefits of AI to everyone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

AI is a foundational technology that can boost productivity, drive economic growth, and power new industries. Large-scale compute capacity in Europe will help ensure that this transformation benefits people and communities including developers, researchers, scientists, and startups across Norway and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stargate Norway is planned to deliver 230MW of capacity, with ambitions to expand by an additional 290MW.<\/strong> The facility will target to deliver 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026, with the intention to expand significantly in the years ahead. OpenAI welcomes the opportunity to be an initial offtaker with the option to scale over time under the OpenAI for Countries program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the most ambitious AI infrastructure investments in Europe to date. Narvik\u2019s abundant hydropower, low-cost energy, cool climate, and mature industrial base make it an ideal location to deliver large-scale, sustainable AI capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility will run entirely on renewable power<\/strong> and is expected to incorporate closed-loop, direct-to-chip liquid cooling to ensure maximum cooling efficiency. Additionally, excess heat from the GPU systems will be made available to support low-carbon enterprises in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/openai.com\/index\/introducing-stargate-norway\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sounds like a great idea in principle \u2013 if you have abundant hydro energy, and it ticks all the green boxes, why not use it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is\u00a0there is not enough Norwegian hydroelectricity<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From February this year;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Blackout Britain threat rises on collapse of Norwegian government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah Boland
Sat, February 1, 2025 at 12:07 AM GMT+10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain risks being left more vulnerable to blackouts as a political row in Norway over power exports escalates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Norwegian government collapsed this week<\/a> following a row over EU green energy laws. A junior coalition partner in the government quit in protest at plans to implement the policies, amid a broader rise in energy nationalism in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts said the collapse raised questions over Britain\u2019s reliance on Norwegian energy imports to keep the lights on. Last weekend, Norway accounted for 4pc of the UK\u2019s power, coming via cables that run under the North Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain is expected to become increasingly reliant on electricity imports under Ed Miliband\u2019s net zero push as Labour seeks to decarbonise the grid by switching to intermittent renewables, with wind power forming a crucial pillar of its plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity exports have become a flashpoint in Norway, where the public has been facing soaring energy prices in recent years. Critics have claimed the undersea interconnector cables force prices higher.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/blackout-britain-threat-rises-collapse-140740392.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If Norwegians feel this strongly about sending a few gigawatts of electricity to Britain, how will they feel about foreign owned AI systems slurping all their hydroelectricity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the\u00a0Norwegian hydropower runs short, as it did in 2022 when a severe drought threatened water supplies<\/a>, who will be the first to have their power cut? Will Norwegian industry be sacrificed to keep the OpenAI campus running?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hydropower is a great starter energy system. As Willis once pointed out hydro truly is the cheapest form of power and can help kickstart industrial development in poor countries. But once all the easy hydro sites have been exploited, it is difficult to expand hydro capacity. And when competition for electricity heats up, as it already has in Norway, someone is going to walk away disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 230MW AI campus to be powered by Norwegian Hydro has been announced \u2013 but competition for electricity and rising prices are already causing political unrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":392817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the implications of Norway's ambitious AI campus powered by hydropower amid rising energy prices and political unrest.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Norwegian Hydro Powers AI Campus Amid Rising Energy Concerns","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822666,691818902,691818154,691836986,691836987,691834255,691836985],"class_list":{"0":"post-392814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-net-zero","11":"tag-norway-and-europe","12":"tag-norwegian-hydroelectricity","13":"tag-openai","14":"tag-stargate-norway","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPoFWXJRx5_RmQ4jqLL2wLKRnkInlisI7TK2FrymY7GmCLU-NbopND7sANBO7PKRegoaMTgwluig-z9WdVqdOxS0GC1XJjSmcLrGCZt42UHtOizv02nv6XSsXx2DHn2vW8sA3qEVJjePwsoXNbmP0QmPvYg9Q-1.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1EbI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":248482,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=248482","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":0},"title":"Norway rejects electricity cable project with Scotland","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"With a capacity of 1,400 MW, NorthConnect would have enabled the two countries to exchange renewable energies - wind power from Scotland, hydro power from Norway - via a 665-kilometre (413-mile) cable under the North Sea.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-706.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":256408,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=256408","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":1},"title":"In Norway, resistance to energy exports to Germany is growing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In Norway, resistance to sharing electricity with Germany is growing, although Economy Minister Habeck made a deal in January for a hydrogen pipeline between the two countries to produce electricity. The Norwegians argue that the generated wind power is exclusively for their country and they do not want to share\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hydrogen pipeline\"","block_context":{"text":"hydrogen pipeline","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=hydrogen-pipeline"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/012-18-13_MW_batteryenergy_1050_644_s_c1_c_c.jpg?fit=1050%2C644&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/012-18-13_MW_batteryenergy_1050_644_s_c1_c_c.jpg?fit=1050%2C644&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/012-18-13_MW_batteryenergy_1050_644_s_c1_c_c.jpg?fit=1050%2C644&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/012-18-13_MW_batteryenergy_1050_644_s_c1_c_c.jpg?fit=1050%2C644&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/012-18-13_MW_batteryenergy_1050_644_s_c1_c_c.jpg?fit=1050%2C644&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":354447,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=354447","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":2},"title":"Norway Wants to Cut Energy Links to\u00a0Europe","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The National Grid made a song and dance about their North Sea Link interconnector from Norway to Blyth, which began operations in 2021. It has capacity of 1400 MW and is designed to export surplus wind power to Norway on windy days and import back again from Norway\u2019s vast hydro\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"National Grid\"","block_context":{"text":"National Grid","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=national-grid"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0ccb0d02d59c95a69bc7aa1de96e2af48.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0ccb0d02d59c95a69bc7aa1de96e2af48.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0ccb0d02d59c95a69bc7aa1de96e2af48.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0ccb0d02d59c95a69bc7aa1de96e2af48.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0ccb0d02d59c95a69bc7aa1de96e2af48.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":417706,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=417706","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":3},"title":"Norway Avoids \u2018Green\u2019 Energy Quicksand","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While the rest of Europe shivers under the self-imposed austerity of net zero mandates, Norway in the frozen north is keeping the lights on and the bank vaults full as it avoids the \u201cgreen\u201d ideological quicksand that has defined the continent\u2019s energy policy.","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cgreen\u201d ideological quicksand\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cgreen\u201d ideological quicksand","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=green-ideological-quicksand"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQMsuVNxVFlRPl3JS4eurpkVbPIL9d789-FG7d97QFlwUrLuqPtuD0Rc_X8eaBHDEdP7jAyZR_Xidj6H_9bbyet05NaKEyOKx0LrlGRG2uvHWrUqiaXXTZ9Nsdo5_xg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQMsuVNxVFlRPl3JS4eurpkVbPIL9d789-FG7d97QFlwUrLuqPtuD0Rc_X8eaBHDEdP7jAyZR_Xidj6H_9bbyet05NaKEyOKx0LrlGRG2uvHWrUqiaXXTZ9Nsdo5_xg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQMsuVNxVFlRPl3JS4eurpkVbPIL9d789-FG7d97QFlwUrLuqPtuD0Rc_X8eaBHDEdP7jAyZR_Xidj6H_9bbyet05NaKEyOKx0LrlGRG2uvHWrUqiaXXTZ9Nsdo5_xg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQMsuVNxVFlRPl3JS4eurpkVbPIL9d789-FG7d97QFlwUrLuqPtuD0Rc_X8eaBHDEdP7jAyZR_Xidj6H_9bbyet05NaKEyOKx0LrlGRG2uvHWrUqiaXXTZ9Nsdo5_xg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQMsuVNxVFlRPl3JS4eurpkVbPIL9d789-FG7d97QFlwUrLuqPtuD0Rc_X8eaBHDEdP7jAyZR_Xidj6H_9bbyet05NaKEyOKx0LrlGRG2uvHWrUqiaXXTZ9Nsdo5_xg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":213539,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213539","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":4},"title":"Norway feeds less electricity into the European interconnected grid","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Blackout-news.de Norway is Europe's largest producer of electricity from hydropower. For some years now, Norway has also been one of the most important electricity exporters for the European interconnected grid. Due to the ongoing drought, electricity production from hydropower has now plummeted. As a result, electricity prices are also\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Screenshot-2022-08-14-175546.png?fit=885%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Screenshot-2022-08-14-175546.png?fit=885%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Screenshot-2022-08-14-175546.png?fit=885%2C629&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Screenshot-2022-08-14-175546.png?fit=885%2C629&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":276014,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276014","url_meta":{"origin":392814,"position":5},"title":"\u2018Scandalous\u2019 Scandinavians rely on nukes, oil","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What a paradox! \u00a0The Scandinavian nations \u2014 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland \u2013 remain at the top of the World Economic Forum\u2019s\u00a0Energy Transition Index\u00a0for 2023. Yet Sweden and Finland rely heavily on nuclear energy, and Norway is a significant producer of oil and gas.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate extremists\"","block_context":{"text":"climate extremists","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-extremists"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=1200%2C729&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=1200%2C729&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=1200%2C729&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=1200%2C729&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0dancing-over-hamnoy-532431267-5aa18ee91d640400376c1ab2.jpg?fit=1200%2C729&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392814"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392820,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392814\/revisions\/392820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/392817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}