A Cross-Country Techno-Economic Comparison of Data Center Waste Heat Recovery
Küçük Resim Yok
Tarih
2026
Yazarlar
Dergi Başlığı
Dergi ISSN
Cilt Başlığı
Yayıncı
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Erişim Hakkı
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
Özet
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing has driven a surge in data center (DC) power densities, simultaneously increasing global electricity consumption and generating vast quantities of low-grade waste heat. This study presents a cross-country techno-economic evaluation of recovering waste heat from a 30 MW data center using heat pumps (HP) for district heating (DH) applications across seven nations: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, and Türkiye. Utilizing non-household energy prices and a base coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.0, the analysis compares HP-based recovery against conventional gas and electric boilers using Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) and annual operating expenses (OPEX) as primary metrics. The study clearly distinguishes between annual and seasonal utilization profiles, which highlights the significant impact of climate-dependent demand on economic viability. Results indicate that waste heat recovery is cost-competitive in Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, and the US. However, it remains uncompetitive in the UK and Türkiye due to low domestic natural gas prices. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that LCOH is highly sensitive to annual utilization factors. Furthermore, while aggressive carbon pricing could accelerate adoption in Türkiye, the competitiveness of this technology in the US and Germany is particularly vulnerable to electricity price volatility. © 2026 IEEE.
Açıklama
2026 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference, TPEC 2026 -- 9 February 2026 through 10 February 2026 -- College Station -- 224054
Anahtar Kelimeler
Data center, district heating, heat pump, waste heat
Kaynak
2026 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference, TPEC 2026
WoS Q Değeri
Scopus Q Değeri
N/A
