East London data centre could provide heat for thousands of homes in Canning Town
October 15, 2024
East London data centre could provide heat for thousands of homes in Canning Town
by ldn6
4 comments
> Heat from a computer data centre could warm thousands of homes around Canning Town in east London, if approval to build the data centre is granted. A large scrap metal site next to the River Lea has been earmarked for the large data centre, which would be clad in metal cladding, making it look like a giant metal tin. Appearances aside, data centres also consume a lot of electricity, and this one will be located close to existing pylons and the West Ham substation. The pylons will be linked to the data centre via a new tunnel dug along the connecting road. The new power cable tunnels will also be designed for a future upgrade that could remove the overhead pylons entirely, but that would be an option for the power company to consider.
> Data centres also generate a lot of heat, and the proposal here is to direct that into a separate energy centre and pump house building and then feed it into a district heating network being built for the wider area. The planning documents say that the “Bidder Street Data Centre, due to its substantial heat capacity and proximity to high density residential housing, would be one of Newham’s principal strategic heat sources.”As the district heating network still needs to be built, though, the neighbouring Crown Wharf development may be used as a pilot scheme (900 homes) to export excess heat from the data centre to provide heat and hot water to local homes as part of its district heating system.
> If the pilot scheme is fully implemented, it could extend to 13 more large-scale heat pump energy centres with thermal storage and 4.5km of low-temperature heat network pipework to supply heat to 13 mixed-use developments in Newham and Tower Hamlets. Nine of the developments currently use combined heat and power (CHP), while four are in pre-planning. Overall, the scheme could supply heat to almost 13,000 homes plus commercial spaces. The riverside, which is currently cut off by the scrapyard would also be opened up to the public, which may, subject to access to the neighbouring estate open up a riverside walk up to the Cody Dock. The planning application will be discussed by Newham Council’s Meeting of Strategic Development Committee, which is recomending approval.
A perhaps non-obvious fact about these places is just how much heat they produce – basically all the electricity coming is turned into heat in the DC, so it’s *megawatts* per big site. Getting that away from the computers out of the building is one of the hardest parts of building these things, then you have to get it away from the building, by evaporative cooling (ie direct into the atmosphere) or into a river or in to a bunch of flats in Canning Town.
In the Black Mirror version of this story, they connect it, but its not controllable, and the residents slowly cook to death because of the ever increasing heat produced.
Building a data centre in the middle of the town doesn’t make much sense. The land is expensive, the electricity is not stable and security and fire-regs would be a nightmare. If they want to heat the flats in Canning Town – why not to use the heat from the London Underground?
4 comments
> Heat from a computer data centre could warm thousands of homes around Canning Town in east London, if approval to build the data centre is granted. A large scrap metal site next to the River Lea has been earmarked for the large data centre, which would be clad in metal cladding, making it look like a giant metal tin. Appearances aside, data centres also consume a lot of electricity, and this one will be located close to existing pylons and the West Ham substation. The pylons will be linked to the data centre via a new tunnel dug along the connecting road. The new power cable tunnels will also be designed for a future upgrade that could remove the overhead pylons entirely, but that would be an option for the power company to consider.
> Data centres also generate a lot of heat, and the proposal here is to direct that into a separate energy centre and pump house building and then feed it into a district heating network being built for the wider area. The planning documents say that the “Bidder Street Data Centre, due to its substantial heat capacity and proximity to high density residential housing, would be one of Newham’s principal strategic heat sources.”As the district heating network still needs to be built, though, the neighbouring Crown Wharf development may be used as a pilot scheme (900 homes) to export excess heat from the data centre to provide heat and hot water to local homes as part of its district heating system.
> If the pilot scheme is fully implemented, it could extend to 13 more large-scale heat pump energy centres with thermal storage and 4.5km of low-temperature heat network pipework to supply heat to 13 mixed-use developments in Newham and Tower Hamlets. Nine of the developments currently use combined heat and power (CHP), while four are in pre-planning. Overall, the scheme could supply heat to almost 13,000 homes plus commercial spaces. The riverside, which is currently cut off by the scrapyard would also be opened up to the public, which may, subject to access to the neighbouring estate open up a riverside walk up to the Cody Dock. The planning application will be discussed by Newham Council’s Meeting of Strategic Development Committee, which is recomending approval.
A perhaps non-obvious fact about these places is just how much heat they produce – basically all the electricity coming is turned into heat in the DC, so it’s *megawatts* per big site. Getting that away from the computers out of the building is one of the hardest parts of building these things, then you have to get it away from the building, by evaporative cooling (ie direct into the atmosphere) or into a river or in to a bunch of flats in Canning Town.
In the Black Mirror version of this story, they connect it, but its not controllable, and the residents slowly cook to death because of the ever increasing heat produced.
Building a data centre in the middle of the town doesn’t make much sense. The land is expensive, the electricity is not stable and security and fire-regs would be a nightmare.
If they want to heat the flats in Canning Town – why not to use the heat from the London Underground?