Blockheating, a company specializing in providing hot water to greenhouses through mobile data centers, has been declared bankrupt. The Dutch startup’s innovative approach involved supplying growers with 60-degree Celsius hot water, with data centers placed adjacent to greenhouse facilities. Despite promising beginnings, the company faced challenges on the IT side, ultimately leading to its financial struggles and subsequent bankruptcy.
Blockheating’s core focus was on delivering heat through hot water. The company’s founders devised a unique method by replacing traditional air conditioning for cooling server processors with a cooling block. This approach utilized a pipe system circulating cold water alongside the processor, acting as a heat exchanger. Notably, this method allowed them to achieve efficient cooling, requiring only 0.05 MW of cooling power for every 1 MW of servers. Additionally, the system could produce hot water at temperatures of up to 60 degrees Celsius, which piqued the interest of the horticulture sector.
While Blockheating successfully conducted a pilot project in horticulture, an intended pilot with an agrocampus did not come to fruition. To supply hot water to the horticulture sector effectively, the data centers needed to operate seamlessly. However, the involvement of IT companies posed challenges, primarily related to data security and ensuring uninterrupted service, known as guaranteed uptime in the IT industry. The presence of IT customers using the data center’s capacity was essential for providing heat to growers.
Blockheating had ambitious plans to evolve into a comprehensive service provider offering both IT services and heat solutions. Unfortunately, financial constraints forced the startup to declare bankruptcy. Nevertheless, discussions regarding a potential relaunch are underway.
Despite the setback, Blockheating’s founders recognize the significance of addressing energy issues in horticulture due to its flexibility and scalability. Having operated for more than five years, Blockheating’s innovative approach has inspired other parties to explore the connection between data centers and greenhouse operations.