# Data Centre Loop Studio

> Data Centre Loop Studio is a free calculator for the jouleWise one-loop model, in which heat pumps lift a data centre's cooling-return water into hot water and low-pressure steam for the factory next door.

Canonical: https://joulewise.com/studios/dc-loop  
Publisher: jouleWise Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, Noida, India · Spain  
Reviewed: 2026-10-08  
Status: free planning tool; figures are indicative, assumptions stated

## In short

Enter the IT load and PUE, the cooling-loop return temperature, the delivery temperature the factory needs, the factory's average heat demand, the fuel its boilers burn and the electricity the heat pumps would run on. The studio returns the COP at that lift, the green heat the loop can deliver, the heat-pump electricity, the factory's energy-cost saving, Scope 1 CO₂ avoided, the chiller electricity and cooling-tower water the data centre no longer spends, and the share of the data centre's heat the loop takes. The defaults reproduce the deck's worked example.
## Facts

- Each MW of IT load releases about a MW of heat into the cooling water, continuously; a 10 MW IT hall at PUE 1.4 is about 14 MW at the meter.
- The lift table from the deck: COP about 5 at 30 K lift, 3.5 at 50 K, 2.5 at 70 K; low-pressure steam to 120 °C at about 2.
- Air-cooled or chilled-water halls return the loop at 20–30 °C; liquid-cooled and AI racks return at 40–50 °C, which narrows the lift to about 35 K for 80 °C delivery and lifts the COP to about 4–4.5.
- At COP 3.5 one kWh of electricity plus 2.5 kWh from the loop gives 3.5 kWh of factory heat and 2.5 kWh of cooling the data centre no longer buys — about 6 kWh of useful heating and cooling per kWh.
- Default worked example: 10 MW IT, 5 MWth at 80 °C, 8,000 h/yr, COP 3.5, PNG boiler at ₹55/SCM and 85% efficiency, green electricity at ₹5.50/kWh: 40,000 MWh-th delivered, 11,430 MWh of electricity, 28,570 MWh-th from the loop, ₹24.9 Cr of fuel replaced by ₹6.3 Cr of electricity, about ₹18.6 Cr/yr saving before capex and O&M, about 8,800 t CO₂ avoided, up to about 5.7 GWh of chiller electricity and about 40,000 m³ of cooling-tower water saved.

## Assumptions and limits

- Illustrative, not an offer. Values are replaced with metered loop temperatures and flows in the baseline.
- The chiller credit uses a chiller COP of 5 and applies where chillers would otherwise have moved that heat; water at about 1.5 litres evaporated per kWh-th rejected applies only to wet towers.
- Green electricity is treated as zero-emission on a market basis. Capex, the hydraulic interface and the tripartite heat agreement are outside the calculator.

## Questions and answers

**Why is data-centre return water such a good heat source?**  
It is warm, steady and available every hour of the year, unlike ambient air. The warmer the loop, the smaller the lift to the factory's temperature and the less electricity each kWh of heat needs.

**Does this put the data centre's uptime at risk?**  
The energy centre is designed as an extra heat sink on the loop, behind an isolation plate heat exchanger with an automatic bypass. Existing towers and dry coolers stay N+1, and the data centre's supply temperature is the controlling limit.

**What does the factory pay?**  
Under Heat as a Service, a price per kWh of heat below its current fuel cost, with no upfront capex; its boilers stay on hot standby for peaks and loads above 120 °C.

**Is this operating anywhere?**  
Data-centre heat reuse operates abroad, mainly into district-heating networks in Northern Europe. jouleWise's claim is the integrated single-provider model for an Indian data centre and a colocated industrial heat user, under one contract.

## Related

- [Data centre heat loop](https://joulewise.com/solutions/data-centres)
- [Heat Pump Studio](https://joulewise.com/studios/heat-pump)
- [Data centre heat is factory heat](https://joulewise.com/insights/data-centre-heat-is-factory-heat)

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