Switch Datacenters announces data thermal collaboration with Municipality of Diemen as part of their sustainable datacenter development roadmap.
Up to 50.000 households east of Amsterdam could receive green, fossil free heat from the data thermal solution
Diemen, the Netherlands, September 17th, 2024, Switch Datacenters, a leader in sustainable high-density datacenter development, recently opened its AMS4 facility at Amsterdam Science Park in Diemen and is now announcing a data-thermal project with the Municipality of Diemen. Diemen is a large municipality just east of Amsterdam in the corridor of Amsterdam Science Park and Amsterdam South-East. Switch Datacenters takes a highly collaborative approach to sustainable datacenter development, exemplified by this project’s emphasis on involving local authorities, businesses, and communities in the development. Recognizing that open communication and delivering added value to the community are key components to the success of this development.
The Diemen datacenter repurposes a pre-existing building structure, reusing the concrete slab and other materials while integrating advanced IT cooling and backup solutions to achieve a minimal CO2 footprint during construction and low emissions during operation. Following a successful feasibility study and scoping, the new data-thermal project with the Municipality will help to further reduce the already low operational emissions, to near zero carbon.
Switch developed and built the 14-18MW high power density datacenter in just under 22 months utilizing its sustainable datacenter modular design framework. This approach emphasizes real estate structure and material reuse, securing renewable power from the grid from designated utility substations and thermal heat network readiness. Additionally, it uses fuel-less generator testing, as well as application of water-less advanced liquid cooling for the IT load. The model is applied to locations near fiber hubs and Internet Exchanges for efficient low latency connections and limited need to build new fiber routes. Proximity to large-scale green heat customers, such as municipal heat grids or greenhouses, is a key pre-requisite of the approach. Community support is another element; the refurbished building is a visual improvement in the urban landscape. The community of the Diemen project has been actively involved in the project for data thermal heating by means of a roadshow and more joint educative sessions are planned.
The Alderman for sustainability in Diemen, Matthijs van den Berg, is pleased that the municipality is investigating the use of the heat production together with the data center: ‘The heat from the data center is not intended to be literally blown into the air, as it happens. That is why I think it is important to find out quickly whether we can do something useful with it. We need to reduce the CO2 footprint to combat climate change. This data thermal solution may be a good alternative for heating homes and businesses in the future.’
Switch Datacenters believes the only way to build more datacenters in the Amsterdam vicinity, is to cooperate as much as possible with the local municipalities and jointly tackle major societal challenges like the energy transition away from fossil fueled heat sources. With our green heat we can help the municipality to make their ambitious targets to be a natural gas free municipality in 2040 at the latest. By designing a fossil fuel free heat network to heat all households in Diemen, the grid companies can significantly reduce major infrastructural investments as well.
About Switch Datacenters
Switch Datacenters is a leader in sustainable high-density datacenter development and operation that aims to drive the energy transition towards a more sustainable future as we enter the Artificial Intelligence era. While AI and high-performance computing (HPC) hold the potential to solve many global sustainability challenges, the next generation of servers require significant power to compute which in our view must be done sustainably and collaboratively. The energy capture from servers with data thermal solutions for heat production can be applied by local communities and businesses in the environment. Moreover, in our sustainable framework we are applying innovative solutions such as grid integration and stabilization, fuel-less power backup generator testing and closed system liquid cooling, using no water, to improve energy stability and overall efficiency.
Switch is currently developing several sustainable high-density datacenters in the greater Amsterdam area.
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More information on Switch Datacenters at https://www.switchdatacenters.com
Enquiries to: press@switchdatacenters.com
More information on the project with the Municipality of Diemen: https://www.diemen.nl/gasvrij
