Data center will heat greenhouses: agreement reached in Uithoorn

Last week, the Municipality of Uithoorn signed an agreement with a group of dozens of greenhouse growers and Switch Datacenters. This agreement concerns the development of a heat network that will be supplied with green heat generated through data center heat recovery from a new data center.

The initiative contributes to making greenhouse horticulture in De Kwakel-Kudelstaart more sustainable. The project recently received an SDE++ grant from the national government, which has laid the foundation for the financial feasibility of this initiative and will accelerate its further development.

Harnessing data center heat

According to research by Liander, making greenhouse horticulture in this area more sustainable and electrified would be a very difficult task without this connection between the data center and the district heating network. By centrally utilizing green residual heat (data center heat) from the data center, not every grower needs their own heat pump. This reduces the strain on the power grid and helps prevent grid congestion. Furthermore, the physical space available to sufficiently expand the power grid in this area is limited. As a result, this solution can be implemented more quickly and requires much lower investment from the grid operator than alternatives.

100% Dutch wind

The data center’s electricity will come from 100% Dutch wind and solar power and is therefore sustainable according to the latest Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The data center recovers a large portion of the energy released as heat from the servers and feeds it back into the district heating network. In turn, the data center receives cold water from the district heating network, which is used to cool customers’ server equipment. This exchange of heat and cold takes place in a closed system, without the use of drinking water or surface water. The data center will be built using a modular, circular design within a former logistics building that is being partially repurposed and is located near greenhouse horticulture operations, thereby avoiding any additional land use in an area where space is scarce.

Alderman positive

Jan Hazen, the alderman responsible for Uithoorn, is positive about the initiative: “Greenhouse horticulture faces a major challenge in becoming more sustainable. This project can make an important contribution by giving growers access to an alternative to natural gas based on data center heat. This will allow residual green heat from a data center to be put to good use for heating greenhouses.”

Next steps

The parties are still in the early stages of the process, and next steps are now being considered, including further elaboration of the agreements and the development of detailed designs. During this phase, the parties will also consult with local residents about the plans to minimize the impact.