Key Highlights:
- Fortum has recently announced that it will use waste heat from two new Microsoft data centers.
- Microsoft has declined to comment on how much it will be investing in the data centers.
- Fortum commented that its investment for the heat capture side from the data centers was estimated at $221 million.
Fortum has recently announced that it will use waste heat from two new Microsoft datacenters to warm homes and businesses in and around the capital of Helsinki. It also aims to cut down the carbon emissions.
Microsoft has announced several plans for the construction of data centers that will be powered by renewable energy. Also, the location chosen for these data centers allows the recycling of heat created from the cooling of computer servers.
Fortum invests in data centers
Finland is popular for district heating. It pumps hot water through pre-insulated underground pipes and has traditionally relied on fossil fuel sources.
An underground pipe system operated by Fortum stretches over 900 kilometers and serves 250,000 users in the Helsinki metropolitan area. After the completion of these data centers, it will account for 40% of the system’s heat supplies. The same was confirmed by the two companies in a statement.
Fortum commented that its investment for the heat capture side from the data centers was estimated at $221 million, and is expecting this move will cut around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Microsoft plans on PPA
For now, Microsoft has declined to comment on how much it will be investing in the data centers.
Microsoft has estimated that it would initially require some 400-500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy per year. This will be comparable in scope to other local industries such as a paper or pulp mill. The tech firm is planning to buy electricity via one or several long-term power purchasing agreements (PPA). By far no supplier has been selected by Microsoft.
