Vantage Closes on $300M Green Loan for VA Data Center

Vantage Data Centers has closed on a $300M green loan from Society Generale for the latest of its sustainable hyperscale data centers, the third server farm in its 42-acre, 146 MW mega-campus in Ashburn, VA.

The 365K SF data center, designated VA13 and with a net absorption capacity of 44 MW, is scheduled to come online this fall.

When completed, the Ashburn campus—in the heart of the largest data center hub in North America, known as Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia—will have more than 1M SF of data processing space spread across five buildings.

As leading providers of hyperscale data centers focus on ESG, especially switching to renewable power and minimizing the use of water for cooling, they are increasingly arranging green financing, a.k.a. green loans.

Vantage’s Ashburn campus features a number of sustainable attributes, including what the company calls “hyperefficient cooling with outside air economization using minimal water”—the system uses air-cooled chillers—solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations and drought-resistant landscaping.

Outdoor lighting at the Ashburn campus is mounted on poles that are each equipped with a rotary windmill on top of a small solar panel, cumulatively providing about 4K kWh of renewable power.

“Not only does this green loan expedite our pursuit of sustainable solutions for data centers, but it adds to the diversity of Vantage’s funding vehicles, enabling us to move quickly alongside customer demand, said Sharif Metwalli, Vantage CFO, said in a statement.

“Partnering with hyperscalers often entails rapid development, which can bring a substantial impact on the environment. With this loan we have the flexibility to prioritize speed without sacrificing sustainability,” Metwalli said.

The is the second successful execution of a green loan for Vantage, which has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The company previously secured a $68M green loan as part of multi-phase financing from Societe Generale to fund the development of a third 32 MW server farm on the company’s Quebec City campus. The facility became operational last month.

According to Valtin Gallani, a Societe Generale director, Vantage is the first data center operator in North America to secure a project-specific green loan that is based on the use of proceeds.

Last month, Vantage announced a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SolarAfrica, a South Africa-based firm that specializes in solar energy financing.

Since it was acquired in 2017 by DigitalBridge, a company specializing in colocation and edge computing, Vantage has undertaken a $1B expansion in Northern VA. In 2018, as part of a deal to acquire 4Degrees Colocation, Vantage acquired two data centers in a growing cloud hub in Quebec.

In 2019, Vantage announced plans to build a 1M Sf data center campus in Goodyear, AZ, a facility now under construction. In 2020 and 2021, the company has rapidly expanded its footprint in Europe and Asia.