InterXion: Interxion works to promote a circular economy

Interxion, Digital Realty's European arm, has announced that in a move to promote a circular economy, it will be using excess heat from its Schiphol AMS5 data center in the Netherlands, with business parks Schiphol-Rijk near Amsterdam. This is happening in cooperation with Polderwarmte, a Dutch energy company, with which it has signed a letter of intent. 

According to Interxion and Polderwarmte, when up and running, the project will be able to supply companies with 45,000 GJ of heat. This will lead to savings of 1.5 million m3 of gas - a considerable amount, especially considering that five years down the line, this could soar to 75,000 GJ of residual heat, resulting in savings of 2.5 million m3 of gas.

On top of this, due to the data center company utilizing 100% green electricity, the environmental impact will also be significant. It is estimated that when the project first kicks off, there will be savings of 2,500 tons of CO2 a year, which could, according to the company, reach 4,200 tons in a five-year period.

Commenting on what this deal means and how it links to the company's broader goals, Michel van den Assem, managing director at Interxion (Google translation), commented: "Our efforts are continuously focused on building green, energy-efficient data centers and making existing data centers more sustainable." 

He added: "We are very much looking forward to entering into a partnership with a company such as Polderwarmte to support other companies in making their properties more sustainable. We are starting off with AMS5, but other Interxion data centers are already prepared for a possible connection to a heat network."

Valentijn Kleijnen, CEO of Polderwarmte, said: "We are making an investment from Interxion as well as from Polder Warmth to take this sustainability step. This project contributes to the acceleration of the energy transition and has all the elements to have a flywheel effect. This allows us to make a concrete contribution more quickly to reducing the use of fossil energy."