The Independent Heat Producer model (IHP) lets you add a reliable, low-carbon heat source to your network, without deploying capital, building heat pump expertise in-house, or managing a relationship with a data centre operator.
This guide explains in short how data centre waste heat can be used by district heating operators.
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Innehåll
- Delivery temperatures, heat volumes, and seasonal stability
- The COP and what it means for the price we can offer you
- Heat Purchase Agreement structure, term, and indexation
- Data centre waste heat for district heating operators
- Site viability criteria and the most common reasons projects don't proceed
Om författaren
Ulrika Jardfelt — former CEO of Svensk Fjärrvärme, policy voice in the Swedish Energikommissionen, and now CDO at Calentix Energy. Few people combine her depth on the utility side with a practical understanding of what makes an IHP arrangement actually work.
Vanliga frågor
A commercial framework where Calentix, a specialised developer, sets up a dedicated project company that finances, builds, owns, and operates a heat pump installation that recovers waste heat from a data centre. From your perspective, Calentix is simply a contracted heat supplier, equivalent in commercial terms to a biomass plant or large industrial heat recovery installation. You receive heat at your network connection point under a long-term Heat Purchase Agreement.
Modern industrial heat pumps in data centre applications reliably deliver supply temperatures of 70–90°C, and up to 95°C in some configurations. Fourth generation district heating networks (55–70°C) are particularly well suited, because reduced temperature lift improves COP, and therefore the heat price.
A 10 MW data centre with full liquid cooling can typically supply 5–8 MW of recoverable heat. Data centre waste heat is near-continuous: 6,000–7,000 hours per year at meaningful output, with predictable seasonal variation and far higher utilisation than solar thermal or sewage heat.
A COP between 3.5 and 6 depending on season and network temperature. At a COP of 5, electricity cost per MWh of heat is one fifth of the electricity price. Compared to a gas boiler, a well-designed heat pump installation uses up to 82% less energy input per MWh of heat delivered.
The HPA defines price (often a base rate indexed to electricity prices, sometimes a fixed price per MWh), minimum annual heat volumes, contract term (typically 15–20 years), independent metering at the connection point, monthly delivery reports, and dispatch arrangements where relevant. Force majeure and performance remedy clauses are included on both sides.
Typically 18–36 months from first conversation to first commercial heat delivery: 2–6 months for feasibility, 6–12 months for design and contracting, and 6–12 months for construction and commissioning.
The data centre must use liquid cooling, have an IT load above roughly 2–5 MW, and be located within 1–2 km of an existing network connection point. Your network's minimum required supply temperature and the summer return temperature are the two most important variables on your side.
Continuous access to a real-time dashboard showing heat pump output, supply and return temperatures, electricity consumption, instantaneous COP, and cumulative heat delivery by hour, day, month, and year. Data can be exported in standard formats for billing and regulatory reporting.
Three failure modes recur: network conditions that don't match (very high mandatory supply temperatures, or summer return above 55°C); inaccurate data centre temperature data discovered late in feasibility; and contractual misalignment between the three parties. Early engagement of the right decision-makers is the single most effective preventive measure.
Taggar:fjärrvärmeguiderIHP
Fyll i formuläret så får du guiden till din inkorg.