Challenge

Through this project, Fluvius aims to identify innovative market players that can offer residual heat from mobile data centres and operate these data centres themselves. The goal is to use this heat locally as a sustainable energy source for existing or new heating networks. 

Data centres produce significant amounts of residual heat due to their energy-intensive operation and cooling. By utilising this heat via heating networks, a concrete contribution can be made to the energy transition and the phasing out of fossil fuels. An important condition is that the data centres are powered exclusively by renewable electricity, as demonstrated by guarantees of origin. 

The project focuses on the development and operation of mobile, modular data centres that can be deployed flexibly at locations where existing or new heat networks need to make heat more sustainable and expand network capacity. 

With this project, Fluvius wants to investigate whether there is sufficient market potential for this innovative heat source and whether the concept is scalable for wider application in Flanders and beyond. At the same time, it is investigating how this approach can contribute to avoiding grid congestion and strengthening digital and sustainable infrastructure. 

The project is linked to the ERDF project of the same name.