Heat utilization from data centers has been a vision for quite some time in the IT and energy industry. With increased environmental pressure to reduce waste and improve efficiency, and with technological developments, data center heat utilization is fast becoming a reality. Indeed we regard data center heat utilization as a prerequisite to sustainable digital infrastructure. At the same time, the energy industry is struggling to meet its climate goals. Especially in the heat sector where CO2-neutral thermal energy sources are still scarce. Such sources will be in even higher demand in the immediate future as governments across Europe attempt to decarbonize all sectors successfully.Current ChallengesPosition papersProjectsBusiness cases
Excess Heat Overview Diagrams
Waste Heat Cost Table for Data Centers
The challenge surrounding the utilisation of waste heat has very little to do with the technical challenges surrounding the capture and distribution of the heat, but rather is a commercial and legal challenge. The demand for high reliability and quality from the utility clashes with the low-ebit contribution of waste heat for a DC-owner. This can be circumvented through dynamic pricing which reflects availability and quality of the heat. See table below for an example.
