Demand for data centre capacity is growing fast. The energy requirements of data centres are also growing, presenting a serious challenge if we are to successfully decarbonise our economy. Nearly all of the energy that goes in to a data centre as electricity comes out in the form of heat.
Traditionally, data centre operators have viewed this heat as a waste product. Rising energy costs, and the push towards decarbonisation are driving innovation in data centre cooling, and technologies like immersion cooling mean that heat re-use is now a viable option even with very small data centres.
It makes sense to bring the data centre together with services that can make use of this heat – for homes, business premises, public buildings – so that the energy can be re-used, dramatically improving efficiency and reducing costs for everyone concerned. The rise of 'edge' computing – crucial for low latency – often means smaller data centres sited much closer to communities, greatly increasing the opportunities for heat re-use.
For smaller facilities, the heat might be used for a single building - a leisure centre for example, as is the case in Lancaster. For larger data centres it may be more useful to connect into one of the growing number of heat networks that are being established.
Whilst the idea of reusing heat from data centres is not new, neither is it yet commonplace. The regulatory environment in the UK is tightening fast, with growing expectations that data centre heat reuse will become a requirement within a few years, and with the growth in the data centre industry alongside the rise of the heat network sector, the drivers are aligned to push heat re-use forward.
Successfully establishing and managing these synergistic relationships is challenging. It requires careful coordination and an effective operational framework. Data centre people don’t want to have to become heat network specialists, and heat network people aren't interested in the ins and outs of how a data centre works.
Add in the potential to integrate with local renewable energy generation – an option that can be hugely helpful in addressing current energy grid constraints on data centre location – and the potential for further synergies increases, as does the complexity.
Our unique approach, developed in part through our Innovate UK funded 'Cooperative Heat and Data Centre Accelerator' initiative – solves this complexity and frees up the parties involved to focus on their core business, avoiding having to get bogged down in complicated and costly webs of contractual relationships, or needing to involve themselves in the intricacies of unfamiliar technologies and industries.
Our Network Synergy framework delivers the expertise and the operational systems needed to bring everything together neatly and at low cost, delivering beneficial outcomes for everyone involved.
Our framework applies and builds on the proven thin layer cooperative concept — successfully implemented by our sister organisation Cooperative Network Infrastructure – and applies it to the multi-party multi-network world of data centre heat reuse where developers and operators of heat networks (and/or other heat consumers) need to collaborate with data centre builders and operators and the digital networks they rely on.
By utilising a cooperative approach we neatly sidestep conventions that demand complex webs of expensive and time consuming contracts, replacing them with clear and straightforward member agreements operating within the robust established governance of the overarching cooperative framework.
The system fosters collaboration across public, private and community sectors to enable sharing of infrastructure assets, enhancing service provision and promoting local economic development, all without reliance on government subsidies.