The UK government is stumping up £36 million ($41.4 million) to help support a green energy project that aims to use waste heat from a datacenter to keep nearby homes warm.
According to the newly formed Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the scheme will be located in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham and Brent and Ealing to the west of central London, and will connect 10,000 new homes to nearby datacenters to use waste energy for heating.
The project is being developed by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), and will also connect 250,000 m2 of commercial space to the same heat network.
However, it is not clear if it will involve heat being supplied by existing datacenters or new builds that may form part of the development, for example.
Described as a “low carbon housing estate of the future,” the idea is that waste energy from these datacenters will be used to provide heating and hot water for the new homes, DESNZ said.
The £36 million being coughed up for this is part of a larger £65 million ($79.4 million) fund that will support another four green energy projects. £21 million ($25.6 million) of this is going to Lancaster University to “fully decarbonise” its campus with air source heat pumps and thermal storage, while the remainder will be spent on housing estates in London, Suffolk, and Watford to install heat pumps.
In a statement announcing the new projects, Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “We are investing in the technologies of the future so that families across the country will now be able to warm their homes with low-carbon, recycled heat – while creating thousands of new skilled jobs.”
