Equinix data center heats Olympic pools in Paris

The 2024 Olympics in Paris attracted the attention of spectators, including some successful technological developments. Datacenter Knowledge reports that a solution to heat pools using heat from the data center played a significant role in this.

During any summer Olympics, large energy resources are required to maintain the pools. At the current Olympics, the main such facility is the Paris Olympic Aquatic Center in Saint-Denis, which is already using a variety of eco-friendly solutions, including for heating water.

Image source: Taiki Ishikawa/unsplash.com

The heat for heating the water in the pools comes from the Equinix PA10 data center in Paris, which opened in 2023. This is the tenth data center the company has built in the French capital over the past 20 years, the power is 100% compensated by renewable energy, there is 5 thousand m2 of space for colocation clients (for 2,250 server cabinets). The data center was initially conceived and built with an eye to using the heat from its equipment.

The company announced that it will supply heat free of charge for 15 years to the Plaine Saulnier urban development zone, as well as the Olympic Aquatic Center, where many Olympic events will take place in 2024. In addition to heat transfer and water “recovery,” the new data center has a greenhouse and a beehive on the roof.

The data center will generate 10 thousand MWh of heat annually, which is enough to heat more than 1 thousand households. Heat is collected at a temperature of 28°C year-round, heat pumps raise the temperature to 65 degrees, and the water is transferred through a special heat exchanger to the heating operator for the benefit of the residents of Plaine Saulnier. If the heat is not transferred anywhere, it is simply released into the atmosphere, the company emphasizes.

In general, data center heat is being used all over the world, including in swimming pools and other water bodies – from the nearest UK to, for example, the USA. A Facebook✴ facility in Denmark uses heat for heating, and the French startup Quarnot Computing also transfers heat free of charge to local consumers. atNorth’s SWE01 facility in Sweden features an air- and liquid-cooled infrastructure heat transfer system.

Last month, surf park builder Aventuur received planning permission for a project in New Zealand that would provide year-round access to heated waves at a nearby data center.

For Equinix, the introduction of the PA10 is one of several thermal management projects the company has underway. The company reports that three sites have now concluded contracts for the supply of heat, the first project was implemented in 2010 in Helsinki in cooperation with energy supplier Helen.

In another facility located in Toronto, Canada, Equinix supplies heat from Markham District Energy’s TR5 IBX data center for distribution to residences and nearby hotels, a hospital, and a local shopping center. In addition, hot water is supplied to many local buildings. The company says that all of its new data centers are initially designed to export heat – on the way to a “circular economy”.

After the end of the Olympics, the site will be available for everyone to visit.