The Municipality of Haarlem, SADC’s PolanenPark and CyrusOne, a premier global data centre REIT, have announced the signing of a unique Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly examine the economic and technical feasibility of a heat re-use project in the region. The MoU follows successful collaboration among the three stakeholders over the last 12 months. It is expected to result in the successful capture of residual heat from CyrusOne’s Amsterdam I data centre’s water cooling process, which will feed into a new district heating network to heat 15,000 homes in the municipality. If the plan proves feasible, a new agreement to start development will be signed in the first quarter of 2021, with CyrusOne’s Amsterdam I data centre expected to provide the very first source of heat.
This MoU was made possible by the alignment and agreement among the data centre operator, the landowner and local government. The partnership marries the Municipality of Haarlem’s pledge to become natural gas free by 2040 with CyrusOne’s stated commitment to be a strategic partner for sustainability.
“It is crucial that we build data centres that work in a way that is compatible with a sustainable future. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified demand for data centre capacity, as consumers become more reliant on digital tools for remote working, learning and entertainment,” said Matt Pullen, EVP and Managing Director, Europe, CyrusOne. “The signing of this MoU is a hugely significant progression for the data centre industry, and we hope this is the first of many instances in which local government bodies and land owners, such as the Municipality of Haarlem and SADC’s PolanenPark, demonstrate commitment to work together with CyrusOne on similar sustainable projects.”
“The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area applies very strict sustainability conditions for the development of data centres,” said Arnoud van der Wijk, Project Director, PolanenPark. “PolanenPark and Schiphol Trade Park in Hoofddorp, both developments of SADC, are two of the very few locations in the region that meet these conditions. The use of residual heat is one of the important pillars of both concepts of the so-called Green Data Centre Campus. For PolanenPark, I’m proud that we’re doing this together: using a pipeline to take the waste heat to the homes of Meerwijk and thereby making a great contribution to the energy transition. This project is unique for the Netherlands and far beyond.”
“Haarlem is committed to becoming natural gas free by 2040,” said Robbert Berkhout, Alderman of the Municipality of Haarlem. “This means that the municipality must look for alternatives for heating homes and businesses. With the research into the use of residual heat, Haarlem is taking an important step in the development of a heat network in the district.”
