Avans Heat Hub · Avans AI OS
Avans is the technology-agnostic system integrator and operator for data centre heat. The Avans Heat Hub connects at the fence and cascades the heat through local production and carbon removal all year, on the best technology for each use. Avans AI OS runs it as one system, and a project company finances it. The data centre gets its heat reuse done, with no Hub capex and uptime untouched. Choose your role to see what it means for you.
The problem
A data centre makes heat every hour of the year. District heating takes 5–10% of it, mostly in winter, and new AI campuses are built far from towns. From 2027 the EU label shows whether a site is ready to reuse its heat, and communities ask what a data centre gives back. Avans turns that liability into income by bringing year-round heat users to the data centre.
Illustrative sizing: 60–67 of 100 MW in seven uses, ≈ 40 MW for new users (incl. ≈ 5 MW losses); every site is verified in the pre-study. Over a whole year, the costed reference case puts ≈ 51% of the heat (≈ 340 of 670 GWh) into paid use; the Innovation Hub has room for ≈ 40 MW more.
At the fence, before the dry coolers: takes ≈ 35% of the return flow and cools it deep to ≈ 25 °C. Servers still get ≤ 45 °C; the dry coolers stay as 100% backup.
Each use gets heat at its optimum temperature: 20–50 °C directly, 65–120 °C via heat pumps. A 27 K drop means a third of the flow and the pumping.
60–67% of the heat is in use in the cascade. Grow, the Avans Innovation Hub, has room for ≈ 40 MW of new users (losses ≈ 5 MW come out of that share), and the cooled water returns to the data centre.
What we deliver
Avans designs, builds and operates the Heat Hub, the system that turns a data centre’s heat into income, and sets up the project company that finances it. The Heat Hub is Connect, the heat cascade and Grow, run by Avans AI OS. Our aim is to bring as much of the heat and as many technologies as possible under that one umbrella, whoever makes or owns each plant, because one control over the whole demand is what maximises the profit per MW.
A prefabricated, modular connection at the data centre's boundary: heat exchanger, pumps, heat meters and a link to the building management system. It makes the site "waste heat reuse ready" on the EU label.
One controlled cascade of seven uses at the reference site, each at its optimum temperature: drying, greenhouses, biogas and biochar (Heat-to-Carbon), fish and insects, buildings and snow melt, and, via heat pumps, district heating and an industry park. Each runs on Avans’s own units, a technology Avans holds field-of-use exclusivity for, or the best available equipment, and all of it under Avans AI OS.
The Avans Innovation Hub: ≈ 40 MW of the reference site’s heat reserved for the next users, in four slots of about 10 MW. New lines are piloted and added as the site grows.
The operating system that manages the Heat Hub’s whole heat demand, whoever supplies the equipment: it forecasts the heat, dispatches it hour by hour to the use that earns most, runs heat pumps and storage, offers flexibility to the grid, meters every MWh and produces audit-ready data for EED reporting, the EU label and carbon removal credits. It is also available without a Heat Hub, for sites that already recover heat: hourly optimisation, metering, and ERF and EU-label reporting.
One project company per site owns and finances the Heat Hub, Connect, the cascade assets it builds (including the Heat-to-Carbon line) and Grow, with infrastructure capital and signs long-term heat contracts with the data centre and the heat users. Avans earns from delivery, operation, software, carbon removal credits and a share of the profit, and is building a Heat Hub investment platform with infrastructure partners.
How it works
Every step ends with a clear go or no-go, and you only commit to the next one. The study is not a separate consulting product: it is step one of the system delivery.
Fixed price
How much heat is usable, who can take it all year, and what the site can earn per MW.
Heat users commit
Business case, heat purchase agreement, Connect design and the project company's plan and partners.
Infrastructure capital and aid
The project company (SPV) raises infrastructure capital; the investment can apply for energy aid.
The interface
The connection at the data centre's boundary: heat exchanger, pumps and heat meters. The site becomes waste heat reuse ready.
All year
Heat flows through Connect to existing and new local heat off-takers, in a cascade by temperature.
Every MWh metered
Avans operates the Heat Hub, reports metered data for EED and the EU label, and every site improves the AI OS.
Each new site starts from the same blueprint and the data of the last ones, so it is faster to build and earns more per MW.
Study fees are credited against the system delivery when the project goes ahead.
Municipal pre-study €30,000 (€18,000 with energy aid) · Data centre pre-feasibility study €50,000 · All excl. VAT; the SPV blueprint, build and operation are priced per site.
Who we help
One data centre, different needs. Find your role: the value, the first step and its price at a glance.
Municipality or development company
First stepMunicipal pre-study · 4 weeks
For municipalities & development companiesData centre developer or operator
First stepPre-feasibility study · €50,000
For data centresEnergy company or heat user
First stepJoint pre-study, or register your heat need
For energy companies & heat usersInvestor or bank
First stepPre-feasibility study · €50,000
For investors & banksWe also work with cooling and heat-exchanger vendors, data centre customers with ESG targets and regulators. Tell us what you need
Founders
Twenty years of selling process equipment and building export businesses in Asia, a physicist who designs the heat systems, and a biotechnologist who led ProAgria for seven years. We integrate the best technology from any supplier, and build our own units in Finland where they fit best.
Designed around
Jani Vänskä
Co-founder & CEO
20+ years of industrial B2B in Asia; built Atria's China exports
Dr. Joonas Mustonen
Co-founder · Energy systems
PhD in physics, University of Helsinki
Dr. Harri Mäkivuokko
Co-founder · Bio-production & partners
PhD in biotechnology; ProAgria CEO for 7+ years
Strategic advisor
Chris Betts
Former General Counsel of Grab, where he led the US$40 bn Nasdaq listing. Previously a capital markets partner at Skadden in Hong Kong, with 40+ IPOs.
FAQ
Every data centre turns almost all of its electricity into heat. Waste heat reuse means capturing that heat, typically as warm water from liquid cooling, and putting it to productive use such as heating, drying, greenhouses, aquaculture or industrial processes instead of releasing it through dry coolers.
District heating demand peaks in winter, while a data centre produces heat all year. New AI data centres are also built far from towns, and a small municipality's network can typically absorb only a few per cent of the heat. In a 100 MW reference case, district heating takes 5–10% of the heat; a cascade of seven local uses, led by greenhouses, drying and biogas, puts 60–67% of it to use, and the Avans Innovation Hub brings in new users for the rest.
No. Connect ties into the return pipe before the dry coolers, and the data centre keeps 100% dry-cooler capacity as backup. If the Hub stops, the data centre cools as before, so Avans carries no cooling liability.
In Finland, yes. Under the Building Act (43 a §), a clean transition project can be assessed through a siting permit instead of a local detailed or general plan, and for a data centre the condition is that most of its waste heat is reused. A credible heat plan from a pre-feasibility study is the basis for that.
It depends on your role. For municipalities and development companies, the pre-study costs €30,000 excl. VAT and takes four weeks; with 40% Business Finland energy aid, the municipality pays €18,000. For data centre developers and operators, the pre-feasibility study costs €50,000 excl. VAT. Both are fixed-price. Study fees are credited against the system delivery when the project goes ahead.
Next step
Tell us briefly about your site or project. We reply personally as soon as possible and book a short review of your heat, possible users and timeline.