Waste heat recovery from data centres
Overview of the status and impact of the innovation
What
One of the most rapidly growing sources of waste heat are data centres, whose use has increased by more than 250% over the last five years (IEA, 2022c). In Germany, for example, data centres now convert more than 13 TWh of electricity per year into heat, typically at temperatures of 25-40°C, most of which is wasted (Goethe Institut, 2020). This heat can be recovered and used as a valuable resource, especially in DHC networks. In addition, there are opportunities to store the larger amounts of waste heat that data centres produce in summer to provide heating in winter (Figure 6.12).
FIGURE 6.12 Layout of a waste heat recovery system
Why
Recovery and use of the waste heat from data centres offer large economic and environmental gains. They reduce the data centres’ electricity demand and enable valuable use of heat that would otherwise have been lost for heating homes and other buildings through district heating networks.
BOX 6.18a Waste heat recovery from the Facebook data centre in Denmark
Facebook’s data centre in Odense was located and designed to recover and donate up to 100 000 MWh of waste energy each year. It sends hot water to the city’s district heating system, operated by Fjernvarme Fyn, where the water is mainly used for heating with radiators. The data centre is also powered with 100% renewable energy, mainly from a local wind project (Copenhagen Centre of Energy Efficiency, 2023).
BOX 6.18b Waste heat recovery from a data centre in Tibet, China
In Lhasa, Tibet, a cooling system to utilise the waste heat from a data centre has been implemented to increase the data centre’s energy efficiency. To achieve the recycling and reuse of clean energy, the waste heat is recycled to heat the aquaculture and agricultural facilities (Xiong, 2021).
Related kits
Power to heat and cooling innovations
Innovations (35)
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Technology and infrastructure
- 1 Low-temperature heat pumps
- 2 Hybrid heat pumps
- 3 High-temperature heat pumps
- 4 Waste heat-to-power technologies
- 5 High-temperature electricity-based applications for industry
- 6 Low-temperature thermal energy storage
- 7 Medium- and high-temperature thermal energy storage
- 8 Fourth-generation DHC systems
- 9 Fifth-generation DHC systems
- 10 Internet of Things for smart electrification
- 11 Artificial intelligence for forecasting heating and cooling demands
- 12 Blockchain for enabling transactions
- 13 Digitalisation as a flexibility enabler
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Market design and regulation
- 14 Dynamic tariffs
- 15 Flexible power purchase agreement
- 16 Flexible power purchase agreement
- 17 Standards and certification for improved predictability of heat pump operation
- 18 Energy efficiency programmes for buildings and industry
- 19 Building codes for power-to-heat solutions
- 20 Streamlining permitting procedures for thermal infrastructure
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System planning and operation
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Business models
- 28 Aggregators
- 29 Distributed energy resources for heating and cooling demands
- 30 Heating and cooling as a service
- 31 Waste heat recovery from data centres
- 32 Eco-industrial parks and waste heat recovery from industrial processes
- 33 Circular energy flows in cities – booster heat pumps
- 34 Community-owned district heating and cooling
- 35 Community-owned power-to-heat assets