Green Rocks: Sustainable digitalisation meets the heat transition

The Green Rocks project in Mainz is creating one of Europe's most modern and environmentally friendly data centres – a joint project between Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden AG (KMW) and Norwegian data centre operator Green Mountain. What makes it special is that the waste heat from the data centre is not simply dissipated, but fed into the existing district heating network via a large heat pump designed by INP.
 

Digital waste heat as a new heat source
Data centres generate large amounts of heat around the clock – a potential that has often been untapped until now. Green Rocks is pursuing a forward-looking approach: waste heat from the data centre is raised to up to 125 °C by a large heat pump and fed into the existing district heating network of the city of Mainz. This will enable numerous buildings in Mainz to be heated in a climate-neutral manner in the future.
 

Our role: General planning by INP
As general planner, INP is responsible for all technical coordination and planning relating to the large heat pump – from the integration of the heat source and plant technology to the grid connection. This includes:

• Integration of data centre waste heat (approx. 28 °C)
• Planning of heat pump to raise temperature to up to 130 °C
• Planning in the fields of process engineering, electrical engineering, control technology, building services engineering and construction
• Implementation of subsidy criteria (e.g. minimum COP 2.6)
• Connection to the existing district heating network of MFW 

With our many years of experience in energy and process engineering, we apply our expertise in a targeted manner to implement innovative projects such as this one efficiently, sustainably and with a view to the future. ‘We transform digital heat into green heat. That's efficiency you can feel.’ Jürgen Fritzen, Project Manager at INP Deutschland GmbH
 

A project that sets an example
Green Rocks exemplifies the interplay between digitalisation and sustainability. The data centre is powered entirely by renewable electricity, and the heat pump is expected to run for around 3,500 hours per year and operate particularly efficiently with a target COP of >2.6. Mainz is thus demonstrating how modern IT infrastructure and the energy transition can go hand in hand.

👉 Find out more: www.kmw-ag.de/kmw_plant_grosswaermepumpe