# RHP for DHC — Sell Your Data Center's Heat > Within 3 km of a district heating network your data center becomes a thermal supplier: an estimated €2.65M / year in heat revenue and platform PUE ~1.10. **Page:** https://www.bikenergy.com/en/dhc ## The heat you are dumping is worth more than you think. If you sit within 3 km of a district heating network, your data center becomes a thermal energy supplier. Cooling stops being a cost and becomes a revenue line. - **~€2.65M / year** — Estimated revenue from heat sale (€65 / MWh) - **~€1M / year** — Electricity savings from PUE 1.50 → 1.10 - **~€200K** — Cooling-battery CAPEX avoided (Thermal UPS included) - **DC bus 800V** — Native architecture, compatible with high-density AI racks _Reference: 10 MW IT data center, 150 kW per rack._ ## Cooling is a cost centre. Heat is an opportunity. Today you buy electricity to produce cold, then dump the heat into the atmosphere. With AI densities of 150 kW per rack, this cost grows non-linearly. In a blackout, cooling is unprotected: no UPS shields the data center's most critical asset. Waste heat, on the other hand, has a market: the nearby DHC network is willing to buy it at a tariff. You are leaving a direct revenue line on the table and keeping an operational risk that can be eliminated. ## Four economic levers in a single plant. RHP lifts the cooling fluid to 70 – 120 °C and delivers it continuously to the DHC network. You negotiate the tariff directly with the network operator: your heat is decarbonised (zero combustion, zero direct emissions), exactly the thermal source that RED III and EED push DHC networks to integrate. You have the right product at the right time. In parallel, Thermal UPS: continuous cooling even in a blackout, for as long as the electrical UPS lasts. The platform is DC-native, compatible with the 800V bus of high-density AI racks. 01. **Direct revenue from decarbonised heat** — Heat delivered to the DHC network at a contracted tariff. Zero combustion, zero direct emissions: the thermal source RED III and EED prioritise. 02. **Electricity savings** — PUE 1.10 with auxiliaries self-powered via ORC. The existing fleet averages around 1.50. 03. **Avoided CAPEX** — No traditional cooling batteries: Thermal UPS already built in. 04. **Reduced conversion losses** — DC-native architecture, native integration with the 800V bus. ## What changes, in figures. _Reference: 10 MW IT data center, 150 kW per rack._ - **~€2.65M / year** — Estimated revenue (€65 / MWh) - **~€1M / year** — Electricity savings (PUE 1.50 → 1.10) - **~€200K** — Cooling-battery CAPEX avoided - **40,800 MWh / year** — Heat available to the network €65 / MWh used as a reference tariff. The final value depends on the contract with the DHC operator. ## When this solution is not the right choice. DHC mode does not make sense in these cases. We tell you upfront, before you book the call. - You are **more than 3 km** from an active DHC network - The DHC operator has **no capacity for continuous heat off-take** - Your site has **physical constraints** that prevent a thermal connection - The 800V DC bus advantage only pays off in full **if your power infrastructure is, or will be, compatible** In those cases: consider [RHP + Thermal Storage](https://www.bikenergy.com/en/storage) for thermal autonomy, or [Energy as a Service](https://www.bikenergy.com/en/eaas) for zero CAPEX. ## Validated technology. Ready to scale. Pilot plant operational since June 2026 on the base technology (small-scale Carnot battery). Measured performance in line with design on COP and heat recovery. Reversible ORC patent application filed October 2025, search report positive on all 12 claims. Co-inventors: Marco Margotti (CEO, 29 years B2B + 6 years on ORC Kaymacor) and Giuseppe Toniato (CTO, 30 years of thermodynamic systems). The technology is validated. The next step is turning your recovered heat into grid revenue, at commercial scale up to 10 MW IT and beyond. ## Glossary - **RHP** — Reversible Heat Pump: BI-K's core machine. One thermodynamic cycle that runs as a heat pump to cool, or as an ORC to generate electricity, switching automatically between the two. - **EnEfG** — Energieeffizienzgesetz: Germany's Energy Efficiency Act. It requires new data centers to reuse a rising share of their waste heat: 10% from 2026, 15% from 2027, 20% from 2028. - **EED** — Energy Efficiency Directive: the EU's recast energy efficiency law (2023). Among other measures it requires data centers to report their energy use and pushes waste-heat recovery and reuse. - **ORC cycle** — Organic Rankine Cycle: a thermodynamic cycle that converts low-to-medium temperature heat into electricity, using an organic working fluid instead of water and steam. - **COP** — Coefficient of Performance: how efficiently a heat pump moves heat. A COP of 4 means 4 units of heat delivered per unit of electricity consumed. Higher is better. - **CAPEX** — Capital Expenditure: the upfront investment to acquire or build a physical asset (e.g. equipment), as opposed to recurring operating costs (OPEX). - **OPEX** — Operating Expenditure: the recurring costs of running an asset (e.g. energy, maintenance, staff), as opposed to the upfront investment (CAPEX). - **SLA** — Service Level Agreement: a contract that sets the guaranteed levels of service (e.g. availability, response times) and the consequences if they aren't met. - **PUE** — Power Usage Effectiveness: a data center's total energy divided by the energy its IT equipment actually uses. 1.0 is the ideal; the gap above it is overhead, mostly cooling. - **RED III** — Renewable Energy Directive III: the EU's revised renewable energy directive (2023). It raises binding renewable targets and pushes district heating and waste-heat reuse toward renewable and recovered sources. - **DHC** — District Heating and Cooling: a network of insulated pipes that delivers heat from a central source to many buildings, instead of each running its own boiler. Common across Europe, especially Germany. - **The existing fleet averages around 1.50** — Average PUE of the existing data center fleet, used as the comparison baseline. The gap above 1.0 is overhead, mostly cooling. --- ## Contact - **Company:** BI-K Energy - **Address:** Via Belvedere, 169, 37131 Verona VR - **Email:** margotti@bikenergy.com - **Phone:** +39 340 52 37 398 - **Founders:** Marco Margotti ([LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/margottimarco/)), Giuseppe Toniato ([LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-toniato-b6770941/)) - **Web:** https://www.bikenergy.com/en