Starts at Avalon 3 the first Data Center heat recovery project in Italy
New green energy for the A2A district heating network and the decarbonisation of the city, in collaboration with DBA Group and thanks to the heat coming from Retelit's Avalon 3
In Milan, the first industrial partnership in Italy for the recovery of heat from data centers destined for district heating: thanks to A2A, in collaboration with DBA Group and Retelit, the energy generated by "Avalon 3", the latest hyper-connected and sustainable data centre of Italy's leading B2B telecommunications company, will power the city network in Municipality 6.
The project will allow an additional 1,250 households to be served each year, enabling an energy saving of 1,300 tons of oil equivalent (TOE) and avoiding the emission of 3,300 tons of CO2, with environmental benefits equal to the contribution of 24,000 trees.
Facilities that host servers manages a large amount of data necessary for IT systems and are by nature highly energy-intensive. This demand is bound to increase to support technological developments related to generative artificial intelligence: an online search using AI in fact requires around ten times more electricity than a traditional query. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), by 2026 the demand for energy for data centers could more than double. At the same time, the cooling processes of their components release large amounts of decarbonised heat which, if not recovered, would be wasted.
The project foresees the construction of a plant, to be operational in early 2026, which will feed the waste heat from Retelit's Avalon 3 data center - the largest internet exchange point in Italy with over 3,500 square metres and 3.2 MW of power - into the district heating infrastructure managed by A2A Calore e Servizi, increasing the green energy available to families in the western part of the city. The plant will provide 2.5 MWt of annual thermal power and a 15 GWh increase in recoverable energy available to the network.
"Thanks to this industrial agreement, which makes it possible to implement the first project of its kind in Italy, Milan confirms itself as one of the cities at the forefront of the ecological transition process," commented Luca Rigoni, CEO of A2A Calore e Servizi. "We will be the first to recover heat from server cooling, which would otherwise be wasted, bringing it into Milanese homes through our district heating network. An example of efficient and circular use of resources, and confirmation of our continuous commitment to the decarbonisation of cities through innovative technologies."
"One of the pillars of our strategy is sustainability, which is particularly evident in the energy efficiency of our data centers, from every point of view," commented Roberta Neri, President of Retelit. "We are therefore proud to invest in this pioneering project, the first of its kind in Italy, which will transform the heat generated by our Avalon 3, which is already 100% green, into thermal energy for homes in the Milan area. With the strong and continuous growth of data centers also in our country, we believe it is essential to ensure a sustainable development, promoting a concrete commitment to reduce their environmental impact. We work to expand and enhance these infrastructures vital for Italy's economic growth and digitalisation - which enable essential technologies such as AI and the Cloud -and we always do so with an eye to the management of environmental impacts, given the high energy consumption. Contributing to the project of recycling the heat coming from Avalon 3 to provide heating to the local community is an important step forward in this direction: a way to 'give back' some of the energy that the data center uses".
"With this project," commented Raffaele De Bettin, CEO of DBA Group, "we are involved in providing the engineering services necessary to properly recycle the 'waste' heat coming from the Via Bisceglie data center in Milan, allowing us to supply the surrounding area with new energy. This activity is part of a wider plan to support the country's energy, digital and environmental transition, the pillars on which our Industrial Plan up to 2026 is based. Reusing energy is fundamental if we are to move towards a circular economy: harnessing the power of a data center like Avalon 3 is an example of the right way forward. Projects like this, together with others we are pursuing in other markets, allow us to play a leading role alongside companies as committed as we are to the process of decarbonisation, and to make a significant contribution to improving the environment and people's quality of life".
DBA Group, a company listed on the Euronext Growth Milan market of the Italian Stock Exchange and one of Italy's leading providers of technical consultancy, engineering, project management and ICT solutions for the life-cycle management of mission-critical networked works and infrastructures, is responsible, through its subsidiary DBA PRO, for the design and supervision of the works for the heat recovery plant. It will also be responsible for the definition of the civil works, including the engineering of the prefabricated container complete with internal equipment, and will manage all the structural and equipment tests. The contract will be developed using BIM methodology to ensure project quality, fewer errors and greater control over time and costs.
