Norway’s Green Mountain Data Center has long billed itself as the cleanest data center in the world and has even offered up very competitive electricity rates at terms ranging from 3 to 10 years. The ability of data centers fueled by renewable energy to lock in long term energy pricing is one key aspect of their attractiveness.

DataCenterKnowledge reports that the fjord-cooled data center will now house the primary IT operations for Norway’s largest bank, DNB. This is a big win for Green Mountain and includes a multi-million dollar 21 year contract. Clean energy isn’t the only motivator here.

Green Mountain is a 226,000 square feet facility that’s 100 meters underground in caves carved into a mountain. It’s a very secure, stable area with access to a steady supply of water at 8 degrees C, the ideal temperature for data center cooling. So the cooling costs are very low at Green Mountain. I’ll be watching to see if Green Mountain can start signing up some major customers on the European mainland, but this is, nonetheless, a big win for the green data center.