New data centre in Espoo to produce heat for local homes and businesses
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Loading... - Noelle Clarke
- 21 Mar 2022
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On 17 March, the software company Microsoft and the Finnish energy company Fortum announced their plans to collaborate on a project that will accelerate both the digital transformation and the energy transition of the Nordic country. More specifically, Microsoft will open a new data centre region in Espoo which, thanks to the operations of Fortum, will also have the capacity to provide district heating to homes and business premises in the area.
In a press release, the Finnish energy company explains that it will capture the excess heat generated by Microsoft’s data centre region. From there, it will transfer the clean heat from the server cooling process to Espoo, Kauniainen, and Kirkkonummi. President and CEO of Fortum, Markus Rauramo commented on the joint project, noting:
“Sometimes the most sustainable solutions are simple ones: By tapping into waste heat from data centres, we can provide clean heat for homes, businesses and public buildings in Espoo’s and the neighbouring communities’ district heating network in Finland, and reduce about 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. This is a significant step for a cleaner world, made possible by our joint ambition to mitigate climate change.”
According to Fortum, the waste heat capture will allow around 60% of the area’s heating to be generated by climate-friendly waste heat. Expanding on this, it revealed that 40% of this will result from the data centre region while only 20% will come from other waste heat sources. Read More…
