The UK government is putting £90 million into heat networks designed to reuse energy that data centers and factories would otherwise discard, The Register reports. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says the projects could eventually provide lower-cost heat to more than 750,000 homes.
The most unusual plan is a £41 million London project built around hot water from a waste facility near Bexley. Before any dedicated tunnel is ready, the department expects electric barges to carry that water about 25 kilometers along the Thames each day. The initial service is targeted for 2028, while tunnels under the river are planned for the 2030s.
DESNZ says the larger system could serve 650,000 London homes and reduce reliance on gas. Other funded work includes extensions or new networks around Solihull, Marble Arch, Bexley and Greenwich. The Bexley and Greenwich network could reach as many as 100,000 homes if fully built.
Server heat still needs a delivery system
The idea is straightforward: capture heat generated by computing equipment, raise it to a useful temperature when necessary, and distribute it through a local hot-water network. The difficult part is that a data center's waste heat is often not hot enough for direct domestic heating. Heat pumps may be needed, and those consume additional electricity.
The Register cites Uptime Institute analysis on that temperature problem and a TechUK report that says newer fifth-generation heat networks are better suited to low-temperature sources than many older UK systems. Pipes, pumps, storage and buildings close enough to use the heat all affect whether a project is practical.
The household figures are government projections, and the tunnel costs and final schedule are not yet established. The funding is a concrete step toward construction, but the barge-first plan also shows how much infrastructure stands between a hot server room and a warm home.
