maincubes, a developer and operator of data centers in Europe, announced the successful acquisition of a 14-hectare plot of land in Nauen (Havelland), on the outskirts of Berlin. The site will host a campus of modern data centers that are designed for cloud services, HPC and AI.
The first phase of the development is set to begin in 2025 with construction of the first building.
The planned BER02 campus will feature a grid supply connection of 200 mw, and represents the next step in serving its growing contingent of international hyperscale customers. Its launch follows the successful commencement of a FRA03 site and the acquisition of a brownfield location south of Frankfurt (FRA04) in 2024.
Following 12+ months of cooperation between maincubes, the AM:PM Grund Group (Nauen campus project developer), a joint planning team, relevant authorities within the city of Nauen and the state of Brandenburg, maincubes has made progress in securing zoning rights and grid connection for the future campus. The project will meet critical requirements for the development of the new campus. The legally binding development plan is expected to be finalized by the end of this year, with work on the new on-site substation starting immediately thereafter.
There are also plans to feed existing and future renewable energy generated by solar and wind power plants. This includes the Nauener Platte directly into the new substation, which potentially – in combination with a battery energy storage system (BESS) – could provide a direct renewable generation source to the data center campus. Furthermore, the campus plans for waste heat generated to be made available to the city of Nauen and other users through a heating network. The site provides ideal conditions for a more sustainable data center campus development.
“Digitalization, cloud services and Artificial Intelligence present transformative opportunities for our economy and society in general, but to fully unlock this potential, we need secure and sustainable data centers – and this is exactly what drives us,” said Oliver Menzel, CEO of maincubes. “Our new location in Nauen is an ideal step toward achieving this vision. Strategically situated near Berlin, which is quickly becoming Germany’s second major digital infrastructure hub alongside the Rhine-Main area, and well supported by regionally generated renewable energy, it aligns perfectly with our mission to create the smartest places for our digital future.”
“We are delighted to have found in maincubes a professional, solution-oriented partner with an understanding and appreciation of local conditions and will work with us to advance renewable energy and sustainable development for the data center industry in this region,” says Patrick Lieberkühn, managing director of the AM:PM Grund Group.
The first data center of the BER02 campus is expected to be operational by the end of 2027. The facility underscores maincubes’ growth ambitions of pursuing four major construction projects in the Rhine-Main region and Berlin/Brandenburg to collectively provide over 250 mw of data center capacity in the coming years.
