What It Takes to Operate and Build Sustainable Data Centres

Markus Blüm is Managing Director of Green Mountain KMW Datacenter GmbH and a speaker at this year’s eco Data Centre Expert Summit on 5 and 6 May. In the panel ‘Rethinking DC construction! Focusing on sustainability, innovation and synergies’, he will share his expertise and practical experience, including the Green Rocks project. In an interview, he talks about sustainable data centres, the principle of heat recovery and location factors for successful DC construction.

Mr Blüm, sustainability is a key issue in the data centre industry. What do you think are the most important factors? And what measures do you implement in your data centres to make them as sustainable as possible?

For us, sustainability is not an add-on, but the starting point for all planning. Minimising energy consumption, using renewable energy sources and making intelligent use of waste heat are particularly important. We also place great emphasis on energy-efficient cooling – using water from the Rhine, for example – to achieve a PUE of less than 1.2.

Your company uses the principle of heat recovery. Could you explain this system in more detail, and in particular the benefits and challenges associated with it?

The waste heat from our servers is not simply released into the environment, but is fed into the district heating system of the city of Mainz. This allows us to provide up to 60 megawatts of heat – enough to supply around 20,000 households, a football stadium or Mainz Cathedral. The benefits are obvious: we avoid wasting energy and contribute to the city’s energy transition. The main challenge is technical integration and timing: the heat has to be available when it is needed.

You are currently building the Green Rocks data centre in Mainz. What factors influenced the choice of location? What criteria should cities and municipalities fulfil in order to be able to implement large-scale data centre projects?

Mainz offers excellent conditions: a robust energy infrastructure, proximity to the Rhine for sustainable cooling, short distances to political decision-makers and, last but not least, a positive attitude towards digitalisation. Municipalities that want to attract data centres should offer reliable approval processes, an efficient power supply and openness to innovative concepts. Cooperation on an equal footing is key – the Green Rocks project is a prime example of this.

Thank you for the interview!