"“The UK just doesn't have many district heat networks. A lot of infrastructure is required that is done best as public infrastructure,” says Peter Judge, senior research analyst at Uptime Intelligence."
"“Proximity to the user and local demand are crucial. Whether business, industry or residential, customers need to be near the datacentre that generates the waste heat. You need to work with multiple stakeholders and create solutions that depend on multiple technologies,” says Judge."
"“Everything - and everyone - needs to work together within designs that are customised for specific local conditions. In short, hooking up datacentres to energy networks to use waste heat is complicated.”"
"“Most datacentres are air-cooled, representing low density of heat,” Judge explains. “But it turns out that liquid cooling doesn't really change the situation that much.” Retrofitting is possible. But which metrics to use and how to measure them can be in doubt. Commercial and regulatory hurdles, including licensing, contractual and VAT considerations, tag along for the ride."
Datacentres in Nordic countries connect to multiple district heating networks, and similar projects exist in Ireland and France. The UK faces challenges matching datacentre locations with energy demand and ensuring supporting foundations such as regulatory frameworks. A major obstacle is the limited availability of local heating networks that datacentres could supply. Proximity to users and local demand is essential, requiring coordination among multiple stakeholders and multiple technologies. Custom designs are needed for local conditions, making waste-heat integration complex. Liquid cooling may increase available heat, but it does not automatically solve heat density issues. Retrofitting, measurement metrics, and commercial and regulatory hurdles also slow progress.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
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