Could Iceland be the best place in the world for high-performance computing?

The case of Wirth Research illustrates a trend towards offloading high-performance computing (HPC) to Iceland. The UK engineering firm began its existence with a focus on motorsports, a passion of founder Nick Wirth.  

One of the company’s first services was to test the aerodynamics of racing cars and make adjustments accordingly. Wirth started out by using wind tunnels, which was state-of-the-art at the time. But eventually it turned towards running computer simulations, using computer-aided design (CAD) software on workstations connected to a supercomputer, where all the heavy lifting takes place. 

Over time, Wirth Research applied core competencies developed for motor sports to other markets. It now also models skyscrapers to find ways of reducing the wind load on them, and to optimise airflow so that downward currents don’t make the street below dangerous or uncomfortable for pedestrians. They also carry out work for supermarkets, analysing the flow of air out of refrigerators and installing and configuring devices on the shelves to keep the cold air in. 

The company has also helped Apple by modelling the ventilation schemes at its Cupertino campus to reduce the air-conditioning demand and encourage more natural flow. It did the same for Bloomberg’s headquarters in London. 

“Almost all of our work is about sustainability, helping our clients to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint in ways that also saves them money,” says Rob Rowsell, engineering manager at Wirth Research. “Naturally, we try to follow our own advice.

“Our main tool is computational fluid dynamics [CFD]. To get highly accurate results, you need very detailed models, which run on very big computers. Over our history, we’ve invested lots of money in developing big, sophisticated CFD models and the high-performance computers systems they run on.” 

Wirth Research’s supercomputer was already reaching end of life before Covid hit, so the company was already thinking about improving HPC before the pandemic forced everyone to work from home. The IT staff made a few modifications to allow engineers to use laptops from home and access the big systems back in the office. 

“It became obvious that our engineers didn’t have to work in the same building as the supercomputer,” says Rowsell. “I began thinking that we could build that flexibility into our new IT infrastructure. We could put the whole system wherever we liked.” 

The company considered several options, including setting up its own computer room in a cabin in a parking lot. Then it looked to Iceland. 

“If you want to know where the cheapest places for energy are, just look at where aluminium smelting takes place,” says Peter Kelly-Detwiler, energy industry expert and author of The energy switch: how companies and customers are transforming the electrical grid and the future of power. “Aluminium smelting is such a power-hungry activity that it can only be done in the most inexpensive locations.”

“Among the locations with the cheapest and cleanest power in the world are Sweden, Quebec and Iceland. Of these three, Iceland comes out on top, because it is also 100% green and will remain that way. On top of that, Iceland has one of the most reliable grids in the world – the risk of outage is very low.” 

Kelly-Detwiler adds: “All the big companies are making promises about being green. It’s much harder to keep that promise when you have datacentres in a place like Dublin or London, where the grid still relies on large amounts of hydrocarbons. But it’s easy in Iceland, where hydropower is the main source of energy. The energy comes from rivers they have dammed up. What’s more, there is additional hydropower potential, and there is plenty of room to develop wind and geothermal power.” 

Tate Cantrell, CTO of Verne Global, a leading datacentre in Iceland, feels comfortable with his company’s future in the country. “As the datacentre business continues to grow at nearly exponential rates, we know that all the infrastructure will be powered by 100% renewable energy,” he says. “Iceland is the only country in Europe that is 100% green and will continue to be so.” 

Not only is Iceland’s energy inexpensive and completely green, but if you are performing intensive computing, you won’t need to use as much energy there. Like all Nordic countries, Iceland offers datacentres the benefits of a cool climate, which means computing equipment can be cooled by the outside air. 

Almost as important is that it never gets too cold in Iceland. Unlike other Nordic countries, Iceland benefits from being at the distal end of the Gulf Stream, which brings in warmer water to ward off the extreme cold of northern winters. Datacentres operating in very cold temperatures (minus 30-40°C) require special materials to avoid damage to equipment during harsh winters. But Iceland doesn’t have that problem – even in winter, the temperature rarely goes far below freezing.