Sustainable heating of Meerhoven residential area with servers: how Interconnect is going to phase out a bio-energy plant in Brainport
Datacenter Interconnect at Park Forum will supply residual heat to the municipality of Eindhoven for the heating network of Meerhoven. The mayor and aldermen of Eindhoven outline this plan as a preferred alternative. The proposal is now being further elaborated, including financial consequences, after which the municipal council will make a final decision.
The residual heat will allow the municipality to gradually reduce the use of the bio-energy plant in Meerhoven. This is in line with the decision of the municipal council in 2020 to use biomass as a transition fuel and to remove it from Eindhoven's energy mix in the long term.
Heat from servers
The Dutch datacenter and cloud specialist Interconnect Services BV offers approximately 6,000 square meters of data center floor space at Park Forum to customers who house their servers here or purchase server capacity. The heat generated by the equipment in the data center can be used for the heating network that is already in use in Meerhoven. According to the plans, Interconnect's Eindhoven datacenter can be connected to the existing heating network of Meerhoven as an alternative source. Interconnect will then be able to transfer its residual heat to the network via a heat exchanger. The company receives cold in return via the heat exchanger. As a result, the company needs to use less cooling, which saves energy.
Win-win situation
Rob Stevens, CEO of Interconnect, calls the proposal a real win-win situation. “It fits in perfectly with our efforts to make a significant contribution to the energy transition. The residual heat from our Eindhoven data center is currently lost, but can be used to the maximum via this step. We have been working on a far-reaching green policy for years and, for example, use 100 percent green energy in our data centers. This proposal is fully in line with this and makes an important contribution to both the digital transition and the energy transition. In this way, we can use every kilowatt hour of electricity even better.”
Alderman for Climate and Energy of the municipality of Eindhoven, Rik Thijs: "In 2050, the energy supply in the city must be completely sustainable. Multiple solutions are needed for this. For example, the use of sustainable residual heat. This decision can become an important application that contributes to the realization of the energy transition".
How residual heat from our data center heats a residential area
During DDA Tech Insights at Interconnect, Rob Stevens (Interconnect), Ronald Zwart (Municipality of Eindhoven) and Stijn Grove (DDA) discussed the role of data centers in the energy transition. Using a concrete example – the use of residual heat from Interconnect's Eindhoven data center for a nearby residential area – they discussed how collaboration between government and industry can contribute to a more sustainable energy system. The full video of this conversation can be viewed here.