CyrusOne & E.ON Tackle Data Centre Grid Capacity Challenges
Leading data centre company CyrusOne has formed a strategic partnership with E.ON to develop local power generation solutions for data centres.
The Preferred Partnership agreement is designed to address grid capacity constraints across the European data centre market – particularly in Frankfurt, Europe’s largest data centre hub, which is currently constrained by limited grid capacity and connection delays.
“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with E.ON to provide customers with a runway to large-scale growth without utility risk by 2029,” says Matthew Pullen, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Europe at CyrusOne.
“By leveraging the complementary expertise of both companies to scale innovative technologies, we are creating a unique opportunity to offer growth capacity for customers in their most important markets.”
Building sustainable data centre capacity in Europe
The local power generation system is designed to deliver an additional 61 megawatts (MW) of electricity to CyrusOne’s FRA7 hyperscale data centre by 2029, expanding the campus’ total IT capacity to 126MW.
Fundamentally, the partnership between both companies seeks to offer near term capacity for customers in important availability zones in gateway markets with delayed access to grid capacity.
They will also collaborate on grid support, power purchase agreements and heat management.
For now, the first initiative of the partnership will see E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) design a local power generation system, named E.ON IQ Energy® Center, to supply CyrusOne FRA7.
The FRA7 development has been a strong investment for CyrusOne, with the company expecting to generate more than 500 full-time jobs and supporting local businesses wherever possible to employ local people and offering training and apprenticeship opportunities.
Matthew adds: “Our scalable platform will set new industry standards for the integration of advanced energy solutions, offering a replicable model for future data centres and setting the pace for European innovation in sustainable infrastructure.”
Enabling energy efficiency
In 2023, the company was selected to deliver a data centre solution that prioritises sustainability and is capable of deploying up to 40MW of waste heat to the campus heating network when operating at full capacity.
It forms part of the Frankfurt Westside campus, a 73-hectare commercial and industrial mixed-use regeneration project managed by BEOS AG and Swiss Life Asset Managers.
The data centre also engages with heat reuse to enable heat from the servers to be absorbed into a water system connected via heat exchangers to pipe network infrastructure that will connect to buildings on the development.
In line with CyrusOne’s sustainability goals and as part of the ongoing partnership with BEOS and Swiss Life Asset Managers, the proposed local power generation solution also places energy efficiency and environmental responsibility at its core.
“This Partnership brings together two industry-leading companies to accelerate a sustainable digital future, developing solutions that provide both power and cooling to the data center and heat to the campus,” comments Marten Bunnemann, CEO at E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions.
In another industry first, the company says the solution is expected to become the first of its kind to include a baseload cooling integration via absorption chillers designed to convert exhaust heat from the power generation process into cooling for the data centre.
This method is designed to increase overall system efficiency, reduce power consumption and significantly improve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
Uniquely, E.ONâs generation system is designed to produce power, cooling and heat through a combustion process which also qualifies CyrusOne to secure green certificates of origin â supporting its customersâ carbon neutrality targets. Initial operations will use natural gas as fuel, with the system designed for hydrogen readiness and capability to operate with up to 25% hydrogen blended into the fuel mix.
In doing so, the scheme supports local energy resilience, infrastructure development, regulatory compliance, and the continued sustainability trajectory of the sector.
Marten adds: âWhat sets this Partnership apart is its strategic depth: a long-term alliance built on shared vision, technical integration, and real benefits for customers and the wider community.â
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