DigiPlex data centre to heat 10 000 Stockholm households
15 May 2018Nordic data centre operator, DigiPlex, and Stockholm Exergi (formerly Fortum Värme), heating and cooling supplier, have signed a large-scale heat reuse agreement. The agreement is the world’s first where an already operational data centre with an indirect evaporative air-to-air cooling system will be retrofitted to recover excess heat for the local district heating system. The agreement covers a heating load equivalent to about 10 000 apartments.
It is estimated that data centres are responsible for 2% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions and 3% of power consumption.
“The partnership with DigiPlex shows that heat recovery to district heating systems is compatible with indirect air-to-air cooling technology...As part of our drive to make Stockholm fossil fuel-free, our objective is that 10% of Stockholm’s heating needs will be provided by recovered data centre waste heat,” says Anders Egelrud, CEO at Stockholm Exergi.
Close to 90% of all buildings in Stockholm are connected to the district heating network and the Swedish capital is one of the few cities in the world where large-scale heat reuse from major data centres is possible.