Why the UK must connect its data centres to heat networks
by Archie Hally
In 2000 there were 52 data centres in the UK, this has risen to 515 as of April 2026. Driven by AI demand, the recent rise in the development of data centres has led to vast amounts of waste heat being generated.
The UK imports approximately 44% of its energy needs. Leading to a higher emission per unit of energy and destructive environmental impacts when compared to the UK sourcing its own energy.
With millions of UK household’s dependant on gas boilers struggling with high energy bills and the government trying to decarbonise at scale. One solution to these three problems is to incorporate heat networks into data centres.
Why use data centres?
A single large data centre can generate enough waste heat to supply thousands of homes. In countries like Sweden and Denmark they are already capturing the waste heat from data centres and feeding it into heat networks providing low-carbon heat to cities and towns. An example of this is Meta’s data centre in Odense, Denmark which has been operational since 2019. The facility feeds 215,000 MWh of waste heat annually into the cities district heating network, providing heating to more than 12,000 households.
How Regulation can Provide a Path for the Infrastructure
More locally, the UK is starting to make big steps towards the application of heat networks through The Energy Act 2023, which introduced heat network zoning powers for England, which are specific geographical areas where it is deemed the heating networks are most economically viable. With Scotland taking this one step further with the Heat Networks (Scotland) Regulations 2021. These policies introduce the foundations of incorporating heat networks with data centres. Despite this, there is no requirement for data centre operators to establish/connect to these heat networks, leading to the gap in the UK, unlike Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act introducing mandatory waste heat reuse obligations for new data centres.
The UK has made an encouraging start; it is essential that this progress continues and not stalls. The country’s first data centre waste heat network is already being established in West London. The Old Oak and Park Royal Energy Network is estimated to recover 17MW of waste heat from new data centres, supplying heat to approximately 9,000 homes. The data centres will supply waste heat at around 25-30°C to heat pumps, which will raise the temperature of the waste heat to then be distributed to households.
Barriers and overcoming them
The Old Oak and Park Royal project is critical to the UK as it demonstrates that the idea is feasible. Data centres must be close enough to residential areas for the piping infrastructure to be viable and with substantial upfront capital investment, there are high barriers of entry to this idea. However, with in depth feasibility work from Synergie and projects like Old Oak and Park Royal being an inspiration for projects across the UK, none of these barriers and insurmountable.
The future of heat
Heat networks provide a solution to the mounting pressure of decarbonisation, waste heat from data centres and accruing household bills. By connecting heat networks with data centres, the UK can harness the wasted heat energy to its full potential.
With the regulation in both the UK and Europe moving in the right direction, what is needed now is the right expertise to help deliver the infrastructure.
Synergie are experts in large-scale district heating and industrial energy efficiency.
For more information, get in touch at info@synergie-environ.co.uk
References:
- Connecting data centres and district heating networks by SIEMENS
- Data centre waste heat for district heating networks by Xiaolei Yuan, Jiayi Liu, Sijia Sun, Xiaojie Lin, Xiajun Fan, Weixin Zhao, Risto Kosonen 2025
- Harnessing Data Centre Waste Heat for District Heating Networks by Colloide
- Heat recover from data centres: turning a planning challenge into a local decarbonisation asset by Buro Happold
- Pioneering waste heat from data centres at scale in UK first by AECOM
- OPDC awarded £36m to keep thousands of homes warm with waste heat from data centres in UK first by London City Hall
- UK Energy in Brief 2025 by Department of Energy Security & Net Zero
