Octopus invests £200m into pioneering heat re-use technology

Octopus Energy’s generation arm is making a £200 million investment in London-based tech disruptor Deep Green to help it rapidly scale its groundbreaking technology across the UK.

Processing data generates a lot of heat. The revolutionary business model pioneered by Deep Green means this heat doesn’t go to waste and instead is used to provide free heat for energy-intensive organisations like leisure centres. By teaming up with Deep Green, a public swimming pool in Devon was able to slash its pool-heating bill by over 60%.

In return, Deep Green gets free cooling which provides it with a significant competitive edge over traditional data centres. This allows it to offer more affordable, highly energy-efficient computing to businesses across the UK.

Deep Green’s customers require data centre processing for a range of uses including AI, machine learning, video rendering or cloud applications. 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.

Installed on-site, Deep Green data centres in, for example swimming pools, don’t require additional grid upgrades or planning permission so can be up and running in a matter of weeks.

The investment is made via Octopus’ dedicated Octopus Energy Transition Fund (OETF) and the Sky (ORI SCSp) fund it manages.

Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation said: “To tackle the energy crisis head-on, we need innovative solutions to unusual problems. 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.”

Mark Bjornsgaard, Founder and CEO of Deep Green, commented: “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.

“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.”

OETF launched in 2023 to scale companies in fast-growing sectors decarbonising society, from heating, to storage, low carbon transport and more. Octopus has backed ground-source heat pump company Kensa Group through this fund.