atNorth has announced a finalized agreement with Vestforbrænding, Denmark’s largest waste-to-energy company, enabling atNorth’s DEN01 data center campus in Ballerup, Greater Copenhagen, to supply surplus heat into the local district heating network. atNorth reports that the DEN01 site, a 22.5 MW metro facility scheduled to go operational in the first quarter of 2026, will provide warm water produced as a byproduct of Direct Liquid Cooling technology. From 2028, this waste heat will be distributed as part of Vestforbrænding’s network to heat over 8,000 local homes.
The partnership targets the reduction of both atNorth and Vestforbrænding’s carbon footprints by decreasing the energy required for local central heating. According to atNorth, recirculating heat from energy-efficient Direct Liquid Cooling operations directly aligns with Denmark’s national strategy to eliminate coal use and support district heating sector decarbonization.
Vestforbrænding has been expanding its district heating system while phasing out oil and gas boilers, aiming to integrate new energy recovery sources such as data center waste heat. Steen Neuchs Vedel, CEO of Vestforbrænding, stated, “For many years, we have talked about surplus heat from data centers being part of the future. Now the future is here. With today’s contract signing, we are showing the way forward for how surplus heat from data centers can reach people’s homes. There has also been talk about sector coupling in the district heating sector – today we demonstrate how this can happen in practice, to the benefit of consumers,”
Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth, added, “As the demand for AI ready digital infrastructure continues to increase, it is imperative that data center companies scale in a responsible way. By actively seeking heat reuse partnerships for our data centers, we can mitigate our environmental impact, benefit the communities in which we operate and help clients decarbonize their IT workloads”.
atNorth has also announced similar circular initiatives, including partnerships to channel data center waste heat to agricultural applications near the DEN02 campus and to heat retail facilities near the FIN02 data center in Finland.
Source: atNorth
