Trial / Demo
As power availability becomes increasingly constrained and operators seek to reduce their reliance on the grid, on-site generation and distribution strategies are gaining prominence. These approaches not only help mitigate grid connection delays and reduce exposure to price volatility (in EMEA, for instance, projects combining renewables and private wire transmission can reduce the cost of power for tenants by 40%). Dynamic simulation models can be used to assess the feasibility of on-site renewable and battery integrations, helping to determine which technologies will offer the greatest impact in terms of both operational resilience and return on investment, based on the site’s unique characteristics and location.
Reducing waste at every stage
Alongside on-site generation and distribution, there is also growing interest in waste heat recovery and reuse as a means of improving overall facility efficiency and reducing environmental impact. In Europe, the EED mandates that data centres with a total rated energy input exceeding 1 MW must utilise their waste heat, unless they can prove it is not technically or economically feasible. While from July 2026 Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) requires new data centres to achieve PUE’s ≤1.2, and from 2028, at least 20% of waste heat must be reused.
Why waste heat?
For operators, waste heat presents not only an opportunity to enhance sustainability outcomes, but also a chance to convert what is traditionally an unused by product into a revenue stream or cost saving. However, many data centres are not located close enough to existing infrastructure to be viable or will face challenges in connecting to district heat networks. In many cases, the return water from data centre racks is also low grade, meaning temperatures are insufficient for direct use. This means that operators must invest in additional technologies, such as heat pumps, to increase their waste heat to useable temperatures suitable for district heating, hot water or other industrial processes.
Accurately weighing up the options
This of course introduces additional risk and capital costs, which must be carefully assessed against wider energy, carbon and sustainability benefits. This is therefore another key area in which dynamic simulation can play a critical role in helping data centre developers and operators quantify their facility’s heat recovery and reuse potential, assessing which options are technically and economically feasible before investing.
To learn more about dynamic simulation and how it addresses the key challenges facing modern data centres, download the full IES whitepaper: De-risking High-Performance Data Centres with Dynamic Simulation.
Discover how whole-facility modelling is transforming data centre planning, design, retrofit, and operation in an era of AI-driven infrastructure demands.
