HPE and Danfoss collaborate to reduce energy usage in data centres and recycle surplus heat

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Danfoss have announced their collaboration to deliver HPE IT Sustainability Services – Data Center Heat Recovery, an off-the shelf heat recovery module, helping organizations manage and value excess heat as they transition towards more sustainable IT facilities.

The rapid integration of AI technologies across organizations and businesses is expected to have a dramatic increase in the power demand and utilization of AI optimized IT infrastructure. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2026 the AI industry is expected to have grown exponentially to consume at least ten times its electricity demand in 2023. To mitigate these challenges, IT leaders and data center facility operators are taking action to reduce energy usage, such as implementing modern power-efficient capabilities and improved cooling systems. Excess heat in the EU alone represents an estimated 2,860 TWh/y, almost equal to the EU’s total energy demand for heat and hot water in residential and service sector buildings. The flow of excess heat from data centers is uninterruptible and therefore constitutes a very reliable source of clean energy.

To address these issues, the new energy efficient data center solution from HPE and Danfoss offers -

• HPE’s scalable Modular Data Center (MDC), in the form of small footprint, high-density (kW/rack) containers, can be deployed nearly anywhere in the total absence of heavy industry and incorporates technologies such as direct liquid cooling, reducing overall energy consumption by 20%.
• Danfoss’ innovative solutions, including heat reuse modules that capture excess heat from data centers to provide renewable heating onsite and to neighboring buildings and industries for various applications, and Turbocor oil-free compressors that enhance data center cooling efficiency by up to 30%.

“Our strategic partnership with HPE is a great example of how we revolutionize building and decarbonizing the data center industry together with customers,” said Jürgen Fischer, President, Danfoss Climate Solutions. “With this latest cross-industry partnership we’re building the blueprint for the next generation of sustainable datacenters – using technologies available today”.

HPE’s MDC incorporates direct liquid cooling (DLC) technologies to enhance energy efficiency by over 20% and optimize energy production and distribution, leading to notable energy savings. The design’s compactness minimizes energy loss by reducing the distance for energy and cooling fluid transport and maximizes the temperature differential at the inlet and outlet, which promotes the capture of excess heat. Furthermore, the MDC’s agility and the exclusion of heavy industrial materials negate the need for costly, conventional building materials and substantially reduces the time to market.

“At HPE, we believe in the power of collaboration to create transformative solutions,” said Sue Preston, Vice President & General Manager, WW Advisory & Professional Services & Managed Services, HPE. “Our partnership with Danfoss brings together HPE’s innovative modular data center with Danfoss’ ground-breaking heat reuse technology. Together, we are not just adding value; we are multiplying it. By harnessing the typically untapped resource of waste heat, turning waste into worth, showing the future of energy usage is efficient, intelligent, and, most importantly, achievable now.”

To leverage excess heat – one of the largest untapped sources of energy and the largest potential for data centers across Europe, HPE has partnered up with Danfoss as their decarbonization partner. The strategic partnership takes advantage of Danfoss’ extensive product portfolio of energy-efficient solutions to drive innovation, support decarbonization and build the blueprint for the next generation of sustainable modular data centers.

HPE IT Sustainability Services – Data Center Heat Recovery is inspired by how Danfoss is already using heat reuse technology at its own headquarters campus in Denmark. Here, the heat is recovered from Danfoss’ onsite data center, boosted by a heat pump, and re-used in surrounding buildings to provide space heating. The heat can also be fed into the local district heating network to provide a renewable heat source to local residents. Reusing heat is a major part of Danfoss’ own decarbonization strategy which has helped Danfoss achieve carbon neutrality in the energy system of its 250,000m2 campus in Nordborg in 2022.

As part of its holistic “Reduce, Reuse, Resource” approach, Danfoss also partners with HPE to retire its end-of-use IT assets through HPE Asset Upcycling Services, a circular economy solution that enables technology refurbishment and reuse, while recovering economic value from those assets.