QTS' Groningen data center connects to the Dutch city's new district heating project

QTS has announced that it has connected its Groningen data center to the Dutch city's new district heating project. The heating project has been built by local utility WarmteStad, which is projected to produce heat for more than 10,000 households, buildings, and knowledge institutions by 2026. WarmteStad's heating plant will use 100% of the 2.5MW of residual heat from the QTS Groningen data center.

Speaking about the data center company's involvement, Dick Takkebos, director at WarmteStad, said that QTS has quickly established itself as an important member of the Groningen business community and that it is a "key contributor to the sustainable district heating project." He added: "We applaud their commitment to re-purposing expended data center heat into reliable, affordable, and also sustainable heating solutions for the long term."

Travis Wright, VP of energy and sustainability at QTS, said that the company is "pleased" to be the first to deliver residual heat as part of WarmteStad's program providing 10,000 households, companies- and university buildings in Groningen with cost-effective heating solutions.

Meanwhile, Jaap Jansma, Manager, ODC-Noord: "We are proud that, on behalf of the national government, we can further contribute to the sustainability of our data center services using the residual heat from the data center to heat homes in a sustainable way. Sustainability is an important theme and in this way it becomes very concrete and visible!"