Data Center Waste Heat Recovery & Reuse Market

Heat pumps are the largest equipment type in the DC-WHR equipment market. Heat pumps are essential to provide the mechanism to raise the temperature of waste heat from data center cooling systems to a temperature that can be used for heating purposes. Waste heat from data centers is typically too cool to be directly applicable for district heating systems, commercial buildings, residential communities, or industrial heating processes. This is where heat pumps come into use as an indispensable solution for raising the temperature to a required level. The importance of heat pumps in waste heat recovery systems is becoming even higher because of the increase in the deployment of liquid-cooled and high-density data centers that offer steadier heat streams that can be used. Often heat pumps become the most important element of such systems, making the whole process technically and economically feasible. There is currently strong demand for heat pumps in countries that have a developed district heating infrastructure and are actively engaged in decarbonizing their energy mix. In addition, regulatory efforts aimed at increasing energy efficiency contribute to further investments into heat pump equipment.

Recovery mechanisms based on liquid single-phase recovery are dominating the DC-WHR equipment market owing to their effectiveness in recovering heat generated in contemporary data centers. Under this system, the recovery mechanism consists of transferring the heat produced by the servers, processors, and other IT equipment into the liquid coolant, which retains its phase during the entire heat recovery process. In addition, compared to traditional air-cooling, such recovery mechanisms provide for much higher levels of heat transfer efficiency. The adoption of technologies like high density computing, AI workloads, and liquid cooled servers has further increased the adoption of liquid single-phase systems among organizations. This kind of recovery mechanisms is especially useful in cases where the recovered heat needs to be upgraded and used in residential or commercial heating systems, as heat exchangers and pumps used in such systems can be easily integrated with this technology. In comparison to other types of recovery mechanisms, liquid single-phase recovery systems tend to require relatively simple implementation, minimal amount of maintenance activities, and are more familiar to operators working with data centers. Such factors have contributed to their dominant position in today's market environment.

Hyperscale data centers are one of the most prominent segments in the market for DC-WHR equipment, as these facilities consume a lot of electricity and produce substantial amounts of waste heat that should be considered for recovery and reuse. Hyperscale data centers serve various purposes, including the operation of cloud computing systems, artificial intelligence, digital services, etc., and thus they are capable of generating high amounts of waste heat to be recovered using various techniques. Moreover, investments in heat recovery from hyperscale data centers make sense from an economic perspective, as large amounts of recoverable waste heat can justify the use of heat exchangers, heat pumps, thermal energy storage, and other equipment. Additionally, many hyperscale companies seek to achieve higher energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint, and thus, the implementation of various techniques to turn waste heat into a source of energy is quite relevant. Many hyperscale data centers are built in the vicinity of district heating systems or have access to sources of heat demand that contribute to the successful development of waste heat recovery projects in these locations. Finally, the usage of liquid cooling technologies in hyperscale data centers improves waste heat properties.

District heating networks (3G/4G) occupy the leading position in the segment structure of the data center waste heat recovery (DC-WHR) equipment market by virtue of using significant amounts of heat generated from data centers. The current generation of district heating systems operates at lower temperature levels compared to traditional networks, making it possible to integrate heat produced during the cooling of servers in data centers. The application of such heating networks can serve as an effective way to transfer heat generated from cooling to residential buildings, commercial establishments, public utilities, as well as multifamily buildings. The segment is popularized across Europe due to the presence of developed heating systems and favorable energy policy that encourages the reutilization of wasted heat generated from industrial and commercial processes. In many cases, data centers are considered a reliable source of heat throughout the entire year since the processes in such facilities take place uninterruptedly. The combination of district heating systems and DC-WHR technologies stimulates the development of heat pump systems, heat exchangers, and thermal storage systems. The implementation of district heating networks in the framework of urban decarbonization initiatives contributes to the maintenance of the segment's market leadership.