The fund will be used to enable Deep Green to rapidly scale its technology across the UK. The investment was made through the Octopus Energy Transition Fund (OETF) and the Sky (ORI SCSp) fund it manages.
“To tackle the energy crisis head-on, we need innovative solutions to unusual problems,” said Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation.
“By using excess heat from data centres to slash energy bills for communities across the UK, Deep Green solves two problems with one solution. We’re looking forward to rapidly rolling this out and positively impacting even more people as we drive towards a cleaner, cheaper energy future.”
The business model developed by Deep Green means that heat generated from processing isn’t wasted and is used to provide free heat for energy-intensive organisations like leisure centres.
In April 2023, a public swimming pool in Devon was able to slash its pool-heating bill by over 60% while heating the pool to about 30C.
In return, Deep Green gets free cooling, enabling it to offer more affordable, highly energy-efficient computing to businesses across the UK.
Deep Green’s current customers include York University, and the company has signed partnerships with industry suppliers Civo and Alces Flight who offer the servers to their customers.
“We are thrilled with Octopus’s commitment to support our next phase of growth. Placing data centres within the fabric of society transforms the waste heat they produce into a valuable resource that benefits communities,” added Mark Bjornsgaard, founder and CEO of Deep Green.
“The data centre sector is rightly facing scrutiny about its growing energy demand and associated carbon emissions. Our data centres are highly energy efficient and support local communities with free heat.”
The news aligns with a government project announced in November 2023, to deliver cleaner, low-cost heating to thousands of homes and businesses across the country.
Each project will receive a share of nearly £65 million, the largest of which will see thousands of homes near to data centres heated by waste energy.
