atNorth has finalized its agreement with Vestforbrænding, Denmark’s largest waste-to-energy company, to use excess heat from atNorth’s DEN01 data center campus within Vestforbrænding’s district heating network.
DEN01, located in Ballerup, Greater Copenhagen, is a 22.5MW metro site that is due to be operational in Q1 2026. The collaboration with Vestforbrænding will enable warm water, that is a biproduct of energy efficient Direct Liquid Cooling technology, to be used by the district heating network to heat over 8000 homes in the local area from 2028. The process will lower the carbon footprint of the data center and Vestforbrænding by reducing the amount of energy needed to provide local central heating.
Denmark has been an early leader in decarbonization and in 2022 the government announced a target to become net zero by 2045, aiming for a 110% reduction in emissions by 2050. The Danish government is actively phasing out the use of coal in the district heating sector and is supportive of heat recycling initiatives that align to its circular economy principles. The initiative is also core to atNorth’s commitment to operating in an environmentally responsible way and is an integral part of the business’s data center blueprint for the future that embodies responsible data center operations holistically, taking into account sustainable construction, energy efficiency and community engagement.
With many years of experience in district heating and an ambitious District Heating Plan for 2030 well underway, Vestforbrænding is phasing out oil and gas boilers in thousands of households and expanding the district heating network to integrate future energy sources – including surplus heat from data centers.
The future is here
“For many years, we have talked about surplus heat from data centers being part of the future. Now the future is here. With today’s contract signing, we are showing the way forward for how surplus heat from data centers can reach people’s homes. There has also been talk about sector coupling in the district heating sector – today we demonstrate how this can happen in practice, to the benefit of consumers,” says Steen Neuchs Vedel, CEO of Vestforbrænding.
“As the demand for AI ready digital infrastructure continues to increase, it is imperative that data center companies scale in a responsible way”, says Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO, atNorth. “By actively seeking heat reuse partnerships for our data centers, we can mitigate our environmental impact, benefit the communities in which we operate and help clients decarbonize their IT workloads”.
The news follows the announcement of a collaboration with Wa3rm – a leader in the development of circular and bio-based operations for waste streams – that will reuse excess heat to grow vegetables close to atNorth’s DEN02 data center in Denmark. Similarly, an agreement with one of Finland’s leading retailers, Kesko Corporation will recycle waste heat from atNorth’s FIN02 data center to heat the neighboring Kesko store.
