In the future, the Batschkapp Cultural Center and Mainova will cooperate in the environmentally friendly use of waste heat from the data center of Mainova WebHouse GmbH & Co. KG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mainova AG. This is currently being built in the immediate vicinity of Frankfurt's cultural center on Gwinnerstrasse in the Seckbach district. "This is a showcase project with innovative energy technology. For example, starting probably in mid-2024, this project will be the first time in Frankfurt that existing buildings used for commercial purposes will be heated exclusively with waste heat from a data center," said Oliver Schiebel, Managing Director of Mainova-WebHouse, at the official presentation of the concept on Thursday (March 9).
Two high-temperature heat pumps specially provided for this purpose in the data center bring the waste heat up to the necessary supply temperature of up to 75 degrees Celsius. "Using the surplus waste heat for heating purposes - both for the data center itself and for neighboring buildings - saves energy in the long term. At the same time, the heat extraction reduces energy consumption for cooling the data center. Together, this saves around 35 tons of CO² per year," explained Anne Irmscher, head of the contracting department at Mainova responsible for the construction and operation of energy centers.
Frankfurt's city councilor Claus Möbius and board member of the Frankfurt Cultural Center, the Batschkapp's sponsoring association, was enthusiastic about the innovative energy concept: "This reduces gas consumption and protects the environment," he emphasized. Batschkapp Managing Director Ralf Scheffler added: "I'm particularly pleased that we, as a Frankfurt cultural institution, can thus set an example for climate protection in our city."
The new data center will be built by 2024. During the same period, the construction of a 110-meter-long route will take place, as well as the conversion to change the heat supply on the Batschkapp site. Currently, the Batschkapp event building and the Frankfurt cultural center's office building on Gwinnerstrasse are each supplied by their own gas-fired boilers with 240 kilowatts (kW) and 120 kW output respectively for heating and hot water. In total, the average annual heat demand of both customers amounts to around 300 megawatt hours (MWh). The gas heating system of the office building will be dismantled as part of the conversion work and hydraulically connected to the Batschkapp via a connecting line. In this way, in the event of malfunctions and maintenance in an emergency, the heat supply for both properties can be provided via the existing gas boiler of the event building as a backup.
