Waste heat from a new Microsoft data center in Denmark will warm up to 6,000 homes.
The data center in Høje-Taastrup, 25km west of Copenhagen, is one of three being built to provide a Danish Azure availability zone announced in 2020.
Warm water from the site's cooling system will be repurposed by VEKS, which builds district heating systems around Copenhagen, and HTF, which runs the local heat network.
Since Microsoft announced its Azure zone, building has begun at three sites, in Roskilde, Køge, and Høje-Taastrup. The three are intended to provide a reliable service that meets the requirements to store Danish citizens' data locally in Denmark.
The Høje-Taastrup facility, on Bohus Boulevard, is due to open in the fall of 2024. VEKS and Microsoft expect the first deliveries will be ready to reach residents during the 2025–2026 heating season.
Microsoft has been posting construction updates for the site since 2022.
The data center was announced and approved in 2022 and included plans to recycle heat from the start, according to Mikael Mikkelsen, data center director at Microsoft.
"In Høje-Taastrup Municipality, there has been a desire from the start to utilize the excess heat from the data center," he told Zealand News in 2022. "Fortunately, the surrounding infrastructure makes this possible, and we have had good cooperation with Høje Taastrup Fjernvarme (HTF)."
The data center provides lukewarm water at 20-30oC, which is cheaper for HTF to heat up using heat pumps.
“There’s considerable potential for surplus heat from data centers in the Greater Copenhagen area," said Steen Christiansen, chairman of VEKS.
Other data centers in the area include one being built by DigiPlex (now Stack), which has also committed to give its warm water to the local community.
Microsoft has also promised to keep a green area adjacent to the data center, which is one of 17 green areas to be developed in the municipality, and create a public recreational park.
