Datacentre heat fires local homes

Waste heat from a new datacentre being built in London Docklands will power nearby homes and businesses, the company behind the project says.

The Telehouse West facility, which is due for completion in 2010, is being built by Telehouse Europe alongside the WSP Group, a sustainability consultancy. Work has started on the new datacentre, which will be nine storeys high and provide 19,000 square metres of floor space.

In its announcement on Wednesday, Telehouse Europe said the £80m datacentre would provide up to nine megawatts of power for the local community by exporting the heat from the building's cooling systems. Green-energy systems and high-efficiency chillers are also being used to reduce carbon emissions.

Bob Harris, Telehouse Europe's technical services director, said in the statement: "We recognise that any attempt to address the lack of space within the datacentre industry has to be undertaken with a level of environmental awareness.

"By making good use of the waste heat from the facility, we can minimise the environmental impact of Telehouse West and provide a valuable resource to the local community."

The Telehouse West heat-export strategy follows on from The Mayor's Energy Strategy, introduced in London in 2004 by the then-mayor, Ken Livingstone. That document called for large-scale planning applications to "include combined heat and power and community heating where feasible".

While the idea of combined heat and power was considered unfeasible for Telehouse West - datacentres do not require extra heating - the heat-export element of the mayor's requirements was worked out in consultation with the Greater London Authority during the planning assessment stage.

The viability of this scheme was enhanced by the fact that a new housing development is also planned for the vacant site next to where Telehouse West will be built, according to Telehouse Europe and WSP's energy-strategy report.

Telehouse Europe already has two datacentres in Docklands. Its colocation facilities are used by many major ISPs and large companies.

Original article: London datacentre to power local community from ZDNet UK