Reducing district heating carbon dioxide emissions with data center waste heat – Region perspective

Climate targets require district heating companies to decarbonize heat production as well as data centers to improve their energy efficiency and waste heat utilization. This study includes an energyPRO software modeling of a district heating network with a planned 21 MW data center in the Ostrobothnia region in Finland to investigate the effect of data center waste heat in a district heating network. Five future scenarios with assumptions on electricity, fuel and carbon dioxide prices were modeled to analyze the reduction of district heating carbon dioxide emissions with data center waste heat and related cost savings. The results indicate that carbon dioxide emissions decrease cost-effectively as waste heat replaces the use of high-emission peat. In scenarios with higher biomass prices, the emissions and costs decrease the most with waste heat utilization. Interviews conducted with stakeholders highlight that district heating companies should not be dependent only on one data center due to the volatile nature of the industry and the heat production costs. They also underlined that the data center is expected to improve local economic activity and the international network of the region. The interviews also indicate that broad local support for the data center can be achieved due to the emission reductions and positive impacts on local employment and the economy. The use of local peat fuel was widely understood to be phased out due to climate policy.