Milan taps data centre waste heat: A2A‑Equinix pact adds 225 GWh/yr

Utility A2A and data‑centre operator Equinix have signed an industrial agreement to capture waste heat from Equinix’s campus in Settimo Milanese and feed it into A2A’s district‑heating network in Milan. The project installs an Energy Center with four large heat‑pump units delivering a total capacity of 72 MW and two thermal‑storage tanks of 6,000 m³. At full operation it will recover about 225 GWh of thermal energy per year, enough to meet the heating demand of more than 21,000 homes and to cut CO₂ emissions by roughly 345,000 tonnes.

The recovered heat will be distributed through the city’s existing network, extending service to iconic locations such as the Duomo and Palazzo Reale. Equinix CEO Adaire Fox‑Martin highlighted the collaboration as a model for aligning digital infrastructure with community sustainability goals, while A2A CEO Renato Mazzoncini called the initiative a key lever for accelerating Milan’s decarbonisation and urban energy resilience.