CERN Computing Data Centre
Designing a next-generation scientific data centre where efficient cooling supports performance, resilience and scalability.CERN Computing Data Centre
Designing a next-generation scientific data centre where efficient cooling supports performance, resilience and scalability.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is home to one of the world’s largest scientific computing infrastructures. Its new data centre at the Prévessin campus supports the increasing volumes of data generated by its research programmes while meeting demanding requirements for availability, efficiency and scalability.
We were entrusted with the design, construction and 12-year maintenance of the facility, delivering an integrated solution combining advanced cooling systems, waste heat recovery and resilient electrical infrastructure.
The challenge
Scientific computing environments generate substantial and continuously evolving cooling requirements. CERN needed an infrastructure capable of maintaining stable operating conditions for thousands of servers while limiting energy and water use.
The facility therefore had to:
- Maintain precise and reliable thermal conditions
- Adapt cooling capacity to changing IT loads
- Reduce energy and water consumption
- Recover and reuse waste heat
- Ensure continuity of service for critical scientific operations
- Support future capacity expansion.
The solution
Equans designed, built and will maintain the new computing data centre at the Prévessin campus. The project combines:
- High-efficiency air cooling architecture
- Adiabatic cooling technologies
- Waste heat recovery to supply neighbouring buildings
- Resilient electrical infrastructure
- Modular design allowing progressive expansion from 4 MW to 12 MW.
- The facility has also been designed for long-term operation and maintainability throughout its lifecycle.
Our value
- FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCYHeat recovery and adiabatic cooling significantly reduce the environmental footprint of one of Europe’s most demanding scientific computing facilities.
- FOR WATER EFFICIENCYThe adiabatic cooling system is designed to use as little water as possible, targeting a WUE of 0.379 L/kWh, well below the industry standard.
- FOR CRITICAL COMPUTINGA fully resilient thermal and electrical infrastructure, with no single point of failure, supports continuous availability for CERN's scientific operations across thousands of servers and petabytes of research data.
- FOR THE CERN CAMPUSWaste heat from the data centre is reused to supply neighbouring buildings. Phase 1 delivers 3 MW of heat recovery. Phase 2 extends this to 4 MW, turning the facility's thermal output into a low-carbon energy resource for the wider site.
This project demonstrates how Equans combines thermal engineering, critical infrastructure expertise and long-term operations to deliver sustainable, high-performance data centres for the world’s most demanding environments.
