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The negative environmental impact of data centres is becoming increasingly well documented but the potential benefits are also now being explored.

A new report from construction consultancy Aecom for the Greater London Authority (GLA) stresses the potential energy, currently lost to the atmosphere, that could be exploited from data centres.

Conducted in partnership with asset management and commercial consultant HermeticaBlack, Aecom’s  study reveals that up to 1.6 terawatt-hours of heat could be recovered each year from the capital’s data centre estate – equivalent to meeting all the heating and hot water needs for all the homes in Ealing.

 The report – Optimising Data Centres in London: Heat Reuse – identifies opportunities to adjust planning and infrastructure policy to unlock this potential for London and sets out recommendations including updated planning guidance, targeted infrastructure incentives and a standardised framework for activating heat offtake from data centre operators. This includes making sure the designs for all future data centres optimise the ability to re-use waste heat.

The uptake of heat recovery in London is currently limited, but the report identifies cities overseas, including Geneva in Switzerland, that are using as much as 95% of the heat recovered from some data centres. Aecom says that UK cities, including London, have an opportunity to heat new homes this way. The report estimates, based on the quantum of heat being currently lost, there is the potential to heat up to half a million homes. When this model was tested across London’s data centre dataset, it evidenced the network could provide enough heat to supply around 350,000 homes.

Data centres are often located in densely populated parts of east and west London. Their computing power generates high server temperatures, creating waste heat that is viable for reuse.

Aecom associate director Asad Kwaja said: “The UK needs complex digital infrastructure to enable its ambitions to become a leader in AI. Data centres lie at the heart of this conversation but we must consider their wider use if they are going to play an integral part of the UK’s infrastructure landscape. Data centres should no longer be considered as just an energy consumer – they can become a part of the whole energy ecosystem.

“London is one of the biggest data centre hubs across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and hosts 80% of the UK’s capacity. With the right planning, coordination and investment, London’s data centres could play a pivotal role in decarbonising heat needed to power the influx of new homes the capital needs to build to address the housing crisis, while also cutting bills for existing residents and improving local energy resilience.”

One scheme to capture the waste heat from data centres is already under way in London. In 2023, the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) secured £36m government funding for a heat network, developed by Aecom, recovering heat from three data centres to produce 95 gigawatt hours a year.

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