OnZero’s AI Heat Factory is expected to provide up to 525,000 MWh of heat annually for around 70,000 homes in Helsinki and combines powerful AI computing infrastructure with efficient heat recovery.
OnZero Finland Oy (“OnZero”), a subsidiary of Vienna-based OnZero Alpha Holdings GmbH, has entered into an agreement with Helen Ltd (“Helen”), one of Finland’s largest energy companies, to connect OnZero’s AI Heat Factory to Helsinki’s district heating network.
The plant is expected to provide up to 525,000 MWh of heat annually. This corresponds to the heat demand of around 70,000 apartments in Helsinki. Commissioning is currently scheduled for next year.
The agreement is an important milestone for the commercial implementation of OnZero’s AI Heat Factory concept. This combines AI high-performance computing infrastructure with the recovery and sensible use of the heat generated during the computing processes.
“We founded OnZero with a clear goal: to reduce the cost of AI by combining powerful AI infrastructure with the efficient recovery and sensible use of waste heat from computing processes. Our agreement with Helen shows how this approach works in practice: the heat generated by AI computing processes becomes a valuable resource for Helsinki’s district heating network,” says Ali Siddiqui, CEO of OnZero.
Waste heat from computing processes as a usable energy source
OnZero’s AI Heat Factory is based on a liquid-cooled architecture, where heat recovery is an integral part of the concept from the start. While traditional data centers often release the heat generated by their servers into the environment, OnZero’s systems are designed to recover up to 99 percent of waste heat from computing processes and provide it at temperatures suitable for district heating networks.
Helen has been using waste heat from data centres in its own district heating system since 2010 and has extensive experience in integrating recovered waste heat into Helsinki’s energy infrastructure. Every megawatt hour provided can help reduce the need for fossil-generated heat in Helen’s system.
“Helen can use the waste heat recovered from OnZero’s data center in Helsinki’s district heating system. This provides a cost-effective way to reduce the need for combustion-based heat generation. At the same time, this approach helps to ensure that district heating remains a competitive and attractive heating solution for our customers in the future. Our goal is to phase out combustion-based energy generation by 2040. The use of waste heat plays an important role in this transformation,” says Tuukka Toivonen, COO, Strategy and M&A at Helen.
Impact on the environment
OnZero’s data centers are designed to use no water on site: the heat is fed into district heating networks instead of being dissipated through evaporative cooling. As a result, the integrated coolant is cooled in a closed circuit without water loss.
If the recovered waste heat replaces natural gas-based heat generation, the emission savings can amount to around 1,500 tonnes of CO₂ per MW of installed heat recovery capacity per year.
Reference project for further expansion
OnZero’s AI Heat Factory concept is designed for locations where increasing demand for AI computing capacity meets access to district heating networks or other consumers of recovered waste heat, such as from industry. The project is also intended to serve as a reference for the company’s planned expansion into other European countries.
