Heat generated at an Equinix data center in Finland is being used to warm homes and businesses thanks to a partnership with Finnish energy company Helen.

The heat from the 1MW HE5 Viikinmäki data center in Helsinki is being channelled into a nearby district heating network.

The project uses a heat pump system to harness residual heat from Equinix's data center. The temperature of the heat energy generated in the data center is then raised by heat pumps operated by Helen and transferred to the district heating network, which is used to heat properties in the local area.

The excess heat collected from the data center is expected to meet the annual heating demand of almost 1,500 one-bedroom apartments.

Noah Nkonge, Equinix's heat export lead, said: “The heat from our HE5 data center will also cut residents' carbon footprints by offsetting the need to burn fossil fuels for heating. Our second heat export project with Helen in Finland represents our commitment to developing heat export projects wherever feasible to benefit the communities where we operate.”

The collaboration is part of a long-established partnership between the two firms. In June 2022, the companies agreed to a heat export program to reuse waste heat generated by the cooling process of data centers in Suvilahti (HE3) and Viikinmäki (HE5) to provide heating to thousands of additional homes and businesses in Helsinki.

The two companies launched the world’s first data center heating project in 2010, using waste heat captured and reused through Helen’s district heating network to warm homes in Helsinki.

District heating is a significant part of Equinix’s sustainability strategy. In June, it called for municipal planning agencies, energy utilities, and heat network operators globally to join its Equinix Heat Export program.

The program aims to “unlock the value of the residual heat” generated in its International Business Exchange data centers.