Selected Group plans Danish greenhouse complex using heat pumps and data-centre waste heat
Denmark – Selected Group is to develop a large-scale greenhouse complex beside atNorth’s DEN02 data centre in Ølgod, Denmark, using heat pumps to upgrade rejected heat from the facility for year-round food production.
The Nordic investment and project development business said the scheme is intended to support Danish food production and reduce reliance on imported produce. AtNorth expects the first phase to be completed in the third quarter of 2028.
Heat pumps to raise waste heat to 46°C
Planning documents published by Varde Municipality show water leaving the data-centre cooling circuit at approximately 32°C, with a minimum temperature of 28°C.
Heat would be transferred through a heat exchanger to a secondary water-and-glycol circuit supplying the heat pumps at around 30°C. The heat pumps would then raise the temperature to supply the greenhouse heating circuit at up to around 46°C.
Both the primary data-centre cooling circuit and secondary heat-recovery circuit are expected to use water containing 30% glycol, while the greenhouse circuit would use clean water.
Additional heat pumps could also be installed within the greenhouses where higher temperatures are required. These could recover further heat from return water, lowering its temperature and increasing overall heat recovery from the data centre.
Around 40MW of backup heating planned
The heat-recovery system would serve four proposed production greenhouses of approximately 100,000m² each.
Planning documents also provide for four backup boilers of approximately 10MW thermal each, giving around 40MW of backup heating capacity. The total installed heat-pump capacity has not been disclosed.
The environmental documentation says as much surplus data-centre heat as possible would be supplied to the greenhouses. Where greenhouse demand is insufficient, dry coolers and chillers would provide supplementary data-centre cooling, while remaining surplus heat could potentially be supplied to other users.
Project remains in planning
The project remains subject to planning and permitting, with Varde Municipality considering consultation responses ahead of final political consideration.
Earlier planning material envisaged initial commissioning in late 2027 or early 2028, while atNorth’s latest announcement now gives the third quarter of 2028 for completion of the first phase.
Selected Group has previously developed a waste-heat-supported greenhouse operation in Frövi, Sweden, where tomatoes are grown using surplus heat from a nearby paper mill.
