The heat generated by the thousands of telecommunications devices running inside Telia's Pitäjänmäki data center, North of Helsinki, is used to heat offices, homes and domestic water. In spring 2025, the heat recovery capacity will be increased to up to 90 percent. Previously, it was about 60 percent.
"In Finland, we have the advantage of a cool climate and the possibility of almost year-round free cooling. Free cooling for the Helsinki Data Center means utilizing cool outdoor air for cooling," says Kalle Hasu, Production Manager of Cooling and Automation at Telia.
Telia and energy company Helen have connected the Helsinki Data Center to the district heating network to heat apartments in Helsinki. “Utilizing waste heat from data centers is an excellent example of an emission-free and consistent heat production solution that contributes to our goal of non-burning energy production. We are very pleased to be working with Telia in this area,” says Miika Lindholm, Group Manager responsible for waste heat solutions in Helen’s data centers. Waste heat recovery contributes to carbon-neutral heat production and Telia’s climate goals.
“The possibility of heat recovery was one of the key starting points in our design when building the Pitäjänmäki data center. At Telia, we aim to have net zero emissions by 2040. Waste heat recovery excellently supports our climate goals both at Telia and locally in Helsinki,” says Martina Lilius, Telia’s Director of Sustainability. Previously, about 60 percent of the waste heat could be recovered. Now, the recovery capacity has increased to 90 percent.
In the future, the number of properties to be heated is planned to increase from 14,000 to 28,000 apartments. The increase in the recovery capacity of the Helsinki Data Center has been made possible by the increase in the data center capacity and the number of devices. This means that an increasing portion of the waste heat can be utilized in the heating of offices and residential buildings. “Data centers are a kind of heat accumulator, which consumes energy evenly and produces waste heat for heat prod
