Waste heat from two supercomputers operated by French weather forecasting organization Météo France in the city of Toulouse will be used to heat nearby buildings.

The two supercomputers, based at a data center in the city, have been connected to a district heating network and will provide warmth for 27 large buildings, the equivalent of 1,800 individual homes. The system will also draw heat from a second data center belonging to a university research body.

Dalkia, a subsidiary of French energy giant EDF, operates the district heating network and has helped connect the data centers.

At a launch event on Wednesday. EDF’s Stéphane Raison described the system as a “virtuous circle.” In comments reported by France Bleu, Raison said: “We’re in a circular economy and that’s what EDF is demonstrating here.”

The heat recovery systems were installed by Dalkia at the Toulouse data centers at the end of 2024. One is located at the Météopole, Meteo France’s research center, and the other is at the Institut Clément Ader, an engineering research facility in the city.

It will come online in October 2025.

Météo’s data center stores meteorological data and metadata, and is home to two supercomputers, named Belenos and Taranis.

Both are Atos Bull Sequana systems, with a combined performance of 21.48 petaflops. Installed in 2021 for €55 million ($58m) – €144 million ($153m) over five years – Météo said the new systems allowed it to significantly improve its short-term forecasting capabilities.

As reported by DCD, the organization is currently looking to upgrade its digital infrastructure, and put out a tender for a €185 million ($196m) contract in November 2024.