Data centres could provide excess heat to Frankfurt’s district heating network, energy provider Mainova and data centre operator Interxion announced after signing a memorandum of understanding for a joint project on the sustainable use of waste heat. A data centre in the Digital Park Fechenheim – currently under construction – could become the first to feed its waste heat into the city-wide district heating network, and meet the heating requirements of around 3,600 households, according to Interxion. However, plans will only become certain based on the results of a feasibility report which will examine whether it is possible to feed waste heat from the data centre into Mainova's district heating network. Building hot water pipes between the company’s sites and increasing the temperature of the waste heat with heat pumps before it is released into the grid are two factors that need to be accounted for before the project goes ahead.
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