Equinix and A2A waste heat project heats Milan Duomo and 21,000 homes via data centre recovery

Equinix and Italian utility A2A are building one of Europe's largest data centre heat recovery projects outside the Nordics. Waste heat from Equinix's ML5 data centre in Milan will be captured and fed into the city's district heating network. Four industrial heat pumps with 72 MW combined capacity will raise the temperature of the recovered heat before distribution. The system will also include two thermal storage units totaling 6,000 cubic meters. At full capacity, the project is expected to recover 225 GWh of thermal energy per year, enough to heat more than 21,000 homes. Landmarks like the Duomo and Palazzo Reale are already connected to the network. The companies estimate the project will prevent over 345,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. It is one of the largest data centre heat recovery schemes in Europe outside the Nordic region. The project extends A2A's district heating network and reduces reliance on conventional heating fuels. For anyone tracking urban decarbonization or industrial heat reuse, this is a concrete example of circular energy in practice.