Knowledge Exchange Forum: Waste Heat from Data Centres in Italy

The accelerated deployment of AI and digitalisation is closely followed by a surge of data centres being constructed across Europe. These developments require massive amounts of electricity; however, their cooling processes generate large amounts of residual heat that can be recovered and supplied to nearby district heating (DH) networks. Properly integrated, data centres can become a reliable, low‑carbon heat source for urban communities.

For the past three years, the HeatMineDH project has worked closely with A2A in Milan, an energy company that operates district heating networks in collaboration with local data centres. Together, they have evaluated technical solutions, economic feasibility, and long‑term decarbonisation pathways for two of A2A’s networks: Milan Pompeo L and Milan West. Now, as the project nears completion, it is time to present the results.

You are warmly invited to join us for a dedicated knowledge exchange forum, where we will take a closer look at the challenges of integrating data centre waste heat into urban district heating networks. The session will also explore the business models and investment plans developed through the HeatMineDH project.

The discussion will feature:

• Martin Stoleny, Innovation Manager at Euroheat & Power – an introduction to data centres in district heating networks
• Gianni Martinazzoli, Mechanical Engineer at A2A Calore e Servizi
• Marco Cozzini, Senior Researcher at EURAC Research   
• Dennis Jensen, CTO at HeatFlow