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BLACK VAULT™

Sovereign AI and energy infrastructure for Europe.

  • AI Infrastructure
  • Energy Infrastructure
  • Acquisitions & Partnerships

Blankenburg · Sachsen-Anhalt · Germany

50 MW IT
Phase 1 design basis
GI · BauNVO §9
Site
Development
Status
Request capacityView site

Developed by 12 Elements Ltd · London, United Kingdom

Engineering is older than industry.

Every technological revolution ends up physical. Five centuries ago engineering joined water, power, mechanics and structure into working systems. AI is doing the same thing, at a different scale.

Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus folio 29 recto: pen studies of a framed machine with gearing, springs and hoisting rigging

Studies of machines, gearing and structural framing.

Leonardo da Vinci · Codex Atlanticus, f. 29 recto · c. 1500 · Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan · public domain

The same move, five centuries apart

  1. MINE WATER
  2. HEAT EXCHANGER
  3. CDU
  4. GPU
  5. DISTRICT HEAT

The AI infrastructure stack

AI is visible at the top. The constraints sit underneath.

Denys Tsvaig, Anna Bon and Lars Gottschligg on the cleared platform at Blankenburg, a tracked dozer behind them
On the ground at Blankenburg · Denys Tsvaig, Anna Bon and Lars Gottschligg

Applications

assistants, agents, products

Not built here. The layer everyone already sees.

Models

training and inference

Not built here. This is our tenants' business.

Compute

accelerators and their environment

We build the environment. We do not own the chips.

Signal

fibre, routing, exchange

Frankfurt connectivity · multi-route by design · route in development.

  • · Multi-route by design · diverse entry to the campus
  • · Carrier procurement · IN PROCESS
  • · Meet-me room planned · cross-connect model to be specified

Thermal

cooling, heat rejection, recovery

Source water at 10–12 °C, coupled to closed campus and rack loops · OFFICIAL DATA.

  • · Mine water 10–12 °C · 8,182 m³/day · OFFICIAL DATA
  • · Source circuit open · all water returned · designed to avoid potable water
  • · Heat export potential up to 35 MWth · DESIGN BASIS

Energy

generation, storage, grid

110 kV / 60 MW grid application filed 03/2026.

  • · Quedlinburg: 1 MW connected today · 2 MVA transformer · EXISTING
  • · 2.33 MWh storage at 1.05 MW · 450 kW photovoltaics · EXISTING
  • · Own substation and CHP on site · DESIGN BASIS

Physical base

land, geology, structure

GI-zoned industrial land on Harz bedrock.

  • · GI industrial zoning · BauNVO §9, the federal land-use ordinance · EXISTING
  • · Harz basement rock · 400 million years
  • · 232–254 m above sea level · MEASURED

Jurisdiction

law, ownership, control

Black Vault Blankenburg GmbH · registered German project company.

  • · GI industrial zoning · BauNVO §9
  • · Designed toward KRITIS and NIS2, a pathway, not a certificate
  • · German building, German and EU law, auditable to the room

visible · abundant ↓ scarce · slowest to build

Black Vault the five layers below compute

Water through silicon

Exploded view of a liquid-cooled accelerator module: a green-black circuit board with the processor die, a copper cold plate with a microfin field above it, a nickel manifold with two coolant ports on top, and a ribbon of coolant running between themConcept
A water-cooled accelerator module, shown exploded: the die below, the copper cold plate above it, the manifold on top, and the coolant moving between them. This is how liquid reaches a chip.

We engineer the layers AI runs on.

The deepest layer is the legal one.

Everything except the accelerators.

Land. Energy. Heat. Network. The computing environment. Security. Jurisdiction. Control.

Not the model. Not the application. The infrastructure underneath them.

Compute

accelerators, owned by the tenant

Network · control

routing, monitoring, access rings

Data hall

white space, containment, fire compartments

Thermal

closed loop, heat exchange, district offtake

Utilities

110 kV supply, storage, distribution

Bedrock

Harz basement rock, 400 million years

Section through the campus, bedrock up to control. Compute fades out: we build the environment it runs in.

One system. Multiple scales.

Rooftop PV array on the Quedlinburg building, over the town

Energy node

I-KUBUS

  • Existing buildings
  • Generation
  • Storage
  • Grid
See Quedlinburg
The Quedlinburg building on its corner, seven storeys

Regional compute

BLACKKUB

  • 1–3 MW class
  • AI compute
  • Mittelstand and R&D
See Quedlinburg
The Blankenburg site from the air, the cleared platform against the town

AI campus

BLACK VAULT

  • 50 MW+
  • Dedicated AI / HPC
  • Enterprise
  • Sovereign
See Blankenburg

Three formats of one engineering system. Not a ladder: none of them is a step toward another, and each is deployed on its own merits.

What exists. What is being done now.

Every status carries a date. Every plan is separated from every fact.

completeLegal entityBlack Vault Blankenburg GmbH · registered German project companycomplete
in progressSiteCampus development active · engineering masterplan and local coordination establishedin progress
completeMasterplanSite plan v1.5 · 20+ documentscomplete
in progressGridNVP 110 kV / 60 MW · application status · 03/2026in progress
in progressHeatWärmeplanung v2, the municipal heat plan · design basisin progress
completeMunicipal coordinationLetter of intent, Stadt Blankenburg · 04/2026complete
plannedPermittingBuilding, emissions and water permits, as each stage is reachedplanned
plannedData hallsTarget end 2028 / early 2029planned
in progressEnergy node QuedlinburgExisting asset, AI layer in development · see the site passportin progress

Stand: 08/2026

A GmbH is a corporate fact, not a land fact. A municipal letter of intent is coordination, not a permit, and a photograph taken in a town hall is neither. Accuracy lives in exactly these distinctions.

Anna Bon shaking hands with Bürgermeister Heiko Breithaupt in Blankenburg town hall, the city flag beside them
Blankenburg town hall, 12.03.2026 · the heat concept meeting · Anna Bon and Bürgermeister Heiko Breithaupt
Five people around a table in Blankenburg town hall, a site plan of the campus spread out between them, one of them in a Stadtwerke Blankenburg shirt
Blankenburg · the heat concept, over the site plan, with Stadtwerke Blankenburg
Anna Bon with two others in Blankenburg town hall, in front of a panorama of the Harz
Blankenburg · town hall, after the meeting
Two of the team on the cleared Blankenburg platform, seen from the air beside a tracked dozer
Blankenburg · clearing the platform
The Quedlinburg building with its photovoltaic facade partly installed, a cherry picker at the upper courses and contractor vans at the fence
Quedlinburg · the photovoltaic facade going on
A worker in a cherry picker at the roof mast of the Quedlinburg building, antenna cabinets alongside and photovoltaic panels in the foreground
Quedlinburg · work at the roof mast
Two of the founders on the roof of the Quedlinburg building, among the photovoltaic array
Quedlinburg · on the roof, over the array

Quedlinburg · energy and compute node

An existing energy asset. The AI layer is in development.

Open the site passport
Aerial view of the Cube in its street in Quedlinburg

Aerial · Quedlinburg · photograph

completeExisting asset4,431 m² · 7 storeyscomplete
in progressEnergy systemPV, storage and inverters installed · figures pendingin progress
in progressBlackKub AI computeIn developmentin progress
plannedAI factoryPlannedplanned

Blankenburg · flagship campus

in progressDevelopment

Open the site passport
Aerial view over the industrial area at Blankenburg, the campus land beyond it

Blankenburg · aerial · photograph, no render

Phase 0 target20 MW IT1
Phase 1 IT load50 MW IT2
Heat to the townup to 35 MWth3
  1. 01EnergyGrid, generation, storage and photovoltaics.
    The battery room, storage cabinets in rows on their own floorCONCEPT
  2. 02ComputePower, liquid and density for accelerators.
    A drawn-out server tray, GPU accelerators and direct-to-chip liquid cooling, cabling gathered in gold-ringed bundlesCONCEPT
  3. 03CoolingMine water at 10–12 °C, coupled to a closed campus loop.
    Water pouring out of a hand-driven mine adit in the Harz, wet rock and ferns around the openingCONCEPT
  4. 04HeatHeat export potential up to 35 MWth at the transfer point (DESIGN BASIS).
    The transfer station: two plate exchangers, a buffer vessel and a heat meter, with insulated flow and return leaving through a trench toward the town beyond the open doorCONCEPT
  5. 05ConnectivityFrankfurt connectivity · multi-route by design · route in development.
    A meet-me room with two optical distribution frames, Path A and Path B, facing each other across the aisle on physically separate entriesCONCEPT
  6. 06SecurityFour access zones, from the campus perimeter to the rack.
    A corridor of five receding thresholds, each a different barrier, darkening with depthCONCEPT
  7. 07ControlMetering per layer, continuous, never as a total.
    A small dark control room, two desks and a wall of trend graphs and single-line diagrams, nobody sittingCONCEPT

Advanced infrastructure

  1. 08Quantum reserved zoneA reserved zone on structurally isolated ground. Vibration and EMI studies pending.
    An empty bay on its own structurally isolated slab, capped service stubs in the floor, no equipment at allCONCEPT

Core systems

Built around what cannot move.

LandGI industrial zoning · BauNVO §9
GeologyHarz basement rock · 400 million years
WaterAdit water 10–12 °C · 8,182 m³/day (OFFICIAL DATA)
Energy110 kV grid · local generation · storage path
HeatMunicipal heat network · Oesig
BrownfieldExisting industrial structures · converted

None of these six was chosen for the site. The site was chosen for them.

What leaves the building

A data centre is a heat engine standing on a water loop. The questions are whether the heat leaves through a pipe or through the roof, and whether the water comes back.

The figures below are Blankenburg, Phase 1 design basis.

50 MWPhase 1 IT load~10 MWthRecovered from the machinesthe remainderRejected
Wärmekonzept, 04/2026. This is the data centre's own heat only, at 40–60 °C, used to preheat the district return. The campus transfer point is rated for up to 35 MW, but the balance of that comes from cogeneration on site rather than from the machines, and the two are not the same claim.
8,182 m³/daySource water, 10–12 °Call of itReturned to the sourcenoneDrinking water consumed
Source data. The source circuit is open, and it returns everything it takes: the water gives up its heat across an exchanger and goes back where it came from a few degrees warmer. Evaporative cooling, the usual alternative, consumes its water permanently.

80–150 GWh/a

Heat to the network

against a town demand of 231 GWh/a (Kommunale Wärmeplanung, 2023). Handover at 70–90 °C, roughly 500 m of DN 200–300 to the city main.

500–1,500

Households

carried at full build-out, measured at the transfer point rather than at the machines

−3,000 … −8,000

Tonnes CO₂ per year

Phase 1, against the heating it displaces · Wärmeplanung v2

The conventional case

A data centre built without a heat offtaker rejects effectively all of it to the atmosphere. The engineering is not harder; the difference is that somebody has to be standing there to take the heat, and that has to be arranged years before the first rack.

And built on brownfield: existing industrial ground and existing structures, converted rather than demolished. The cheapest hectare, environmentally, is one that was already industrial.

21,900

MWh of heat a year, rejected at the 3 MW expansion case

Quedlinburg already runs 9 km of district heating, roughly 43 GWh a year, and the plant is on the same street. The heat has somewhere to go.

What the town gets

The law sets the number. We design to it.

Germany legislates data centre efficiency. Most operators state their own targets; this one is set by statute, and it is the same number for everybody.

Energieeffizienzgesetz (EnEfG) § 11 · as of 08/2026

  1. 01 · Energy Efficiency Act

    PUE ≤ 1.20 for data centres commissioned from 07/2026

    1.00 — computing0.20 — everything else

    1.20

    in progressBlankenburg design basis. Registry value, with its own source.

  2. 02 · Energy Efficiency Act

    A rising share of waste heat reused, reaching 20 %

    20 % reusedthe statutory share

    Heat recovery designed in

    in progressHeat export potential up to 35 MWth at the transfer point, in joint technical design with the utility.

  3. 03 · Energy Efficiency Act

    100 % renewable electricity, on a balance-sheet basis, from 2027

    100 % renewablefrom 2027, balance sheet

    Grid supply plus on-site generation

    plannedThe procurement route is an open decision.

Which threshold applies follows the commissioning date, and the applicable step is confirmed with the authority rather than assumed here. Nothing on this screen is a compliance statement.

Architectural DNA

One physical language across every site. Five things are the same in a converted tower in Quedlinburg and in a new hall at Blankenburg, and they are the same on purpose.

How the platform is built
SkinStructureContainmentSpineRings
Skin
Matte black envelope, photovoltaic where it faces the sun.
Structure
One bay, repeated. A hall is a whole number of them.
Containment
Closed aisle. The containment seals the machine from the room.
Spine
Power, cooling and control arrive on one side, so the next bay is added without touching the running ones.
Rings
Access in concentric zones, from the campus perimeter to the rack.
the five layers, exploded. A standard, not a taste: the drawing is identical at 1 MW and at 50, and only the number of bays changes.

Regional integration

in progressHeatUp to 35 MWth potential → 500–1,500 household equivalents at full build-outin progress
plannedJobsEstimated 200+ during construction · 120+ permanentplanned
in progressLocal AIBlackKub · compute for the regional Mittelstandin progress
plannedEducationHochschule Harz · TechHubplanned
Regional impact

Developed by 12 Elements

A development platform for the physical infrastructure of AI. London · Company No. 15412509.

View company
Denys Tsvaig and Anna Bon in Black Vault helmets in front of the photovoltaic-clad Cube in Quedlinburg
Denys Tsvaig and Anna Bon at the Cube, Quedlinburg

The pipeline

Two sites in the Harz. Further European sites in evaluation. What follows is dated and marked as a target, because that is what it is.

The full roadmap
1–3 MWQuedlinburgIn development50 MWBlankenburg · Phase 12028/29· Design basisAI, QUANTUM COMPUTING AND POST-QUANTUM SECURITY
European development pipelineBlack Vault is expanding across sovereign AI and energy infrastructure. New locations are announced when a project reaches the company's public disclosure threshold.IN DEVELOPMENT
Not to scale: the campus is roughly seventeen times the node, and at true area the smaller ring would be hard to read. Containment is the claim, not proportion.

Stand: 08/2026

Capacity

Capacity is allocated through an engineering process.

Submit capacity requirement

  1. Quedlinburg

    1–3 MW class

    Register interest

  2. Campus

    Phase 1 design basis · 50 MW

    Pre-lease dialogue

Drawn to area, not to a ruler: each block’s side is the square root of its capacity, so the ground it covers is the capacity itself. Blankenburg’s Phase 1 design basis is roughly seventeen times Quedlinburg’s upper class, and on a log axis the two look adjacent, which is the wrong impression to leave.

Notes

  1. 120 MW IT — LONG-TERM TARGET (TARGET) · effective 08/2026 · source: Phased development plan · verified 01.09.2026
  2. 250 MW IT — DESIGN BASIS (DESIGN BASIS) · effective 06/2026 · source: Project data sheet · verified 06.08.2026
  3. 3up to 35 MWth — DESIGN BASIS (DESIGN BASIS) · effective 06/2026 · source: Heat concept · verified 06.08.2026

Where else to go.

The rest of the site, including the parts a diligence reader wants and the parts the law requires.

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