Nordic operator atNorth has signed a project development agreement with Swedish heat recovery developer Calentix to examine whether surplus heat from its planned SWE04 campus in Sollefteå can feed the local district heating network in Långsele. Under the arrangement, announced on 4 November, Calentix would develop and finance the heat recovery system and act as an independent heat producer between the data centre and the network operator.
What has been agreed
The agreement follows a feasibility study that, according to the two companies, found heat recovery at the site to be technically feasible and identified local demand for the heat. Calentix will lead the technical, commercial and financial work, including arranging financing for the infrastructure. atNorth’s role is to provide access to the surplus heat, integrate the system into the site and manage the physical interfaces with its facility.
The Långsele heat network is operated by the utility Adven. The current phase covers technical design, site planning, commercial principles and the agreements needed between the parties. Whether the scheme goes ahead will depend on agreeing the technical requirements, infrastructure investment and commercial terms.
The numbers
SWE04 is planned as a 300MW campus on a 50-hectare plot at Hamre Industrial Park in Långsele, in Sollefteå Municipality, roughly 550km north of Stockholm. When atNorth announced the site in February 2026, it said the campus would use a modular architecture and was expected to be operational in the first half of 2028.
Trade press reports on the new agreement put the first phase of heat recovery at about 1.6MW, with potential to grow towards 20MW, and a first heat delivery target in the second quarter of 2029. The partners reportedly aim to sign a heat purchase agreement in 2027 before a final investment decision. These figures were not set out in the companies’ own published statement.
Context: heat reuse as standard practice in the Nordics
atNorth already supplies heat from its SWE01 site in Kista to Stockholm Exergi’s network, and has a partnership with Vestforbrænding in Denmark that is set to heat more than 8,000 homes. Other schemes include warming a neighbouring Kesko store in Finland and a greenhouse development by Selected Group at its DEN02 campus. The operator was acquired by Equinix and CPP Investments earlier this year.
The deal also fits Sollefteå Municipality’s sustainability programme, which targets climate neutrality by 2045. In their joint statement, the companies stress that “having heat available is only the beginning”, arguing that proximity to a network and early planning largely determine whether reuse is economic.
Why it matters for modular and edge in Europe
The structure is notable because it separates the data centre operator from the heat business. A third-party developer that finances pipes and heat pumps and sells heat to the utility removes a capital burden that smaller operators often cannot carry. That model could suit modular and edge facilities, which are frequently sited close to towns and industrial estates but produce heat in quantities too small to justify bespoke infrastructure on their own.
The small initial phase also mirrors how modular campuses grow: heat capacity can be added in steps as data halls come online, rather than built out in full on day one. With the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive pushing larger data centres to assess waste heat use, standardised third-party arrangements of this kind may become a template for operators across the region.
Leave a Reply