Data Center Waste Heat and Battery Storage Tapped to Power AI‑Driven Facilities

In Berlin, the Ringberlin campus has begun using waste heat from a nearby data centre in Marienpark to heat a 17,000‑square‑metre makerspace, marking one of Europe’s first commercial districts to rely on data‑centre heat. The project, led by GASAG Solution Plus and DATA2HEAT, aims to eventually supply the entire quarter with low‑temperature heat via water‑to‑water heat pumps.

In the United States, analysts project that electricity use by AI‑focused data centres could more than double by 2030, reaching roughly 376 TWh annually—enough for 20‑27 million typical households. To meet this demand, battery‑storage systems are being promoted as a key grid‑flexibility tool, with utility‑scale installations slated to add about 24 GW this year. Industry figures cite the technology’s ability to store cheap electricity and release it during peak demand, supporting both AI workloads and broader consumer reliability.