Magnora Acquires 50% Stake in Estonian Data Center Joint Venture with Sunly

European data center developer Magnora has acquired a 50 percent interest in a joint venture with Estonian energy infrastructure company Sunly AS to develop the Risti Kampus data center project in western Estonia, the company announced this week. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The deal marks a significant step in the convergence of renewable energy development and data center infrastructure in the Baltic region, where growing demand for AI and cloud computing capacity is colliding with the need for sustainable power sources. The Risti campus is designed to be connected both to the national power grid and to Sunly's adjacent energy park, which is slated to include 244MWp of solar capacity, 144MW of battery energy storage, and 44MW of wind generation in development.

The first phase of the data center development could reach 180MW, with the potential to eventually scale to 400MW, according to Magnora. The site is located approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Tallinn and 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Helsinki, positioning it within reach of major Nordic and Baltic connectivity corridors. Magnora also holds an option to extend its stake in the joint venture to 75 percent.

"We look forward to develop this powered land and data center project together with local and regional stakeholders and with our local partner Sunly – which has a strong track record and is backed by leading European infrastructure investors," said Erik Sneve, chairman at Magnora Data Center ASA. "The site has good access to renewable energy, strong connectivity, and scalability. We expect time-efficient project development. This combination matches well the demand from large-scale operators."

Sunly, founded in 2019, has 1GW of renewable energy capacity operating or under construction and counts among its investors Mirova, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, KLP, Vardar, EIB, mBank, and Rivage Investments. Priit Lepasepp, CEO of Sunly, described the Risti hybrid park as a convergence of the company's strategy: "The data center site sits next to what will soon be the largest solar park in the Baltics, where we are also building battery storage capacity and planning a wind park. A large consumer like a data center ties all of this into a single system."

The project reflects a broader trend in Europe where data center developers are increasingly co-locating with renewable energy generation to secure power supply and meet sustainability targets. Magnora, originally founded in 2001 and transformed into a dedicated renewable energy investor in 2018, took its data center arm public earlier this year. The company currently operates a facility in Norway and has several more in development across Norway, Finland, and Italy. The Risti project adds Estonia to its growing Nordic and Baltic footprint, underscoring the region's emergence as a competitive data center market driven by renewable energy availability and improving digital infrastructure.