Effect of localisation and climate change on operation of data centres in Ukraine towards 2050

Data centres (DCs) are large electricity consumers, estimated to account for around 1% of worldwide electricity usage. They release excess heat (EH) during the operation, which can be recovered in district heating (DH) networks. DCs are expected to satisfy the rising demand for digital services. The electricity usage for cooling and available EH from the operation of DCs depends on the air temperature that changes with geographical location. The changes are not uniform and global warming pathways will influence them. Here lays the contribution of the present article. We use an existing thermodynamic model of a hyper-scale DC for different locations in Ukraine to analyse the electricity usage for cooling and EH availability for two climate scenarios (RCP2.6 and RCP 4.5) in 2010–2050. The results show that the electricity consumption for cooling and available EH can vary greatly within Ukraine. The electricity consumption for cooling is over two times higher in the hottest compared to the coldest location in the country, while the emitted EH is around 80% higher on average. The global climate pathway has a minor influence — the electricity use for cooling and EH availability are 4% higher in RCP4.5 than in RCP2.6. Finally, one hyper-scale DC of 150 MW could cover the demand for space heating and domestic hot water for roughly 100 thousand people. This assessment is an important input to consider when developing plans to rebuild Ukraine. •Cooling needs and excess heat potential are assessed depending on location and climate.•Data centre electricity consumption for cooling can more than double depending on the location.•Future climate affects the results by only 4%.•The cooling-dependent operational costs could grow by 26% depending on the location.•One 150 MW data centre in Ukraine could heat ca. 100 thousand people.