Waste Heat from Data Centres to Warm Thousands of Homes in UK First

December 4, 2023 Gabby Rush

By Gabby Rush

December 4, 2023

Waste heat is a problem for data centres and using this excess heat to warm up homes could be the solution.

The Old Oak Park Royal development in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham will be the first of its kind to recycle waste heat from large computer systems storing internet data to supply heating for the local community. [1]

Figure 1: Data Centre Network [2]

Waste heat is a problem for data centres and using this excess heat to warm up homes could be the solution.

The Green Heat Network Fund, backed by £36 million in government support, aims to connect 10,000 new homes and 250,000 square metres of commercial space to this low- carbon energy source that will help keep bills low and contribute to the UK’s drive to reach net zero by 2050.

It is one of five innovative green heating projects in London, Watford, Suffolk, and Lancaster allocated grants from the Green Heat Network Fund. Together they are expected to create thousands of skilled jobs, helping deliver the government’s promise to grow the economy.

“We now have a blueprint for an innovative ambient heat network which we hope will provide a template for future developments,” said Jo Streeten, managing director of buildings and places at AECOM, which is designing the heat network. [2]

Sustainable Heating Cause and Direction

Gas boilers currently heat around 85% of homes in the UK, but their installation in new homes is to be banned from 2025. While heating produces over a third of the country’s CO₂ emissions, there are only two low-carbon heating alternatives that most people hear about: heat pumps or hydrogen boilers.[4]

But now there is a third alternative, heat networks supply heating and hot water to homes and businesses via heat pumps or sources from underground, manufacturing, and waste management. They help cut carbon emissions by supplying heat to multiple buildings from a central source, avoiding the need for households and workplaces to rely on individual, energy-intensive heating solutions, such as gas boilers.

Today’s round of funding comes on top of £122 million already awarded to support 11 new heat network projects across the country, under the government’s Green Heat Network Fund.

The full list of projects to receive support today are:

Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation will receive £36 million to construct a heat network using waste heat from data centres to provide heating to over 10,000 homes and 250,000m2 of commercial space.
a new heat pump housing estate in Chilton Woods, Suffolk will see nearly 1,000 homes and a primary school provided with low carbon heating. The project, which has received £745,000, will also include a thermal store, meaning any excess energy generated from the system will be fed into the wider National Grid
the London Borough of Brent will receive nearly £5.2 million for the South Kilburn District Heat Network, supplying heat using air source heat pumps combined with back up gas boilers to 34 sites via a 2.79km pipe network, connecting 2,900 customers.
Watford Community Housing (WCH), a not-for-profit housing association with approximately 5,700 homes, will receive £1.8 million of funding to replace an old gas district heating system with ground source and air source heat pumps. This will provide heat to 252 apartments across 6 blocks.
Lancaster University will receive more than £21 million to fully decarbonise its campus with a low carbon energy centre. The centre will use air source heat pumps, thermal storage, and electrical infrastructure works.[5]

Figure 2: Cat Relaxing on a Radiator [6]

Existing European Projects and Concerns with Growing Data Centres

While projects to reclaim heat from data centres are not entirely new. Facebook has had a project running in the Danish city of Odense for several years, projects already exist in Sweden, and Microsoft is working on something similar in Finland.

There is a growing concern with regards to the rate in which these data centres are developing. Last year, for example, the Financial Times reported that new housing projects in some areas were being rejected because the electricity grid was maxed out and that the power demand from data centres in the neighbourhood was part of the problem.[3]

The only way these projects can proceed is if the expansion of data centres doesn’t outgrow the development of new homes. Technology companies that are under high levels of demand, are responsible for managing the levels of data they produce in the most sustainable way possible.

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