Swiss power company BKW Energy is collaborating with K51, a data center and waste heat repurposing startup, to integrate K51’s data centers into the balancing energy market.

K51 operates high-performance computing data centers in locations where its waste heat can be used sustainably. These include greenhouses, where the waste heat produced by the company’s servers and other data center operations can replace heating systems powered by fossil fuels.

The partnership will integrate K51’s data centers into the Swiss balancing energy market. The data centers will be bundled together into a virtual data center, which will dynamically transmit real-time power availability to BKW Energy, which pools and markets this capacity for grid stabilization. If adjustments are needed, BKW Energy will send a switching signal, allowing individual data centers to ramp up or down accordingly.

K51 will leverage BKW Energy’s daily spot price forecasts to strategically time its computing operations, optimizing costs and efficiency.

By aligning its energy-intensive workloads with the most favorable pricing windows, the company says it will ensure seamless automation of energy forecasts.

The partners say the dual approach will help hedge contractual heat outputs through forward transactions, enabling K51 to generate additional revenue while supporting grid reliability.

Jill Huber, business developer at BKW Energy, said: “With our product Energy Powerflex, a control energy pool, we bundle small-scale and variably available systems into a virtual power plant. This enables our customers with flexible systems to benefit from the attractive revenues in the control energy market, as they often do not have the required minimum output.

“Bundling makes it possible to exploit the rapidly growing potential for flexibility on the consumer side. This can be done, for example, through batteries, heat pumps, or, in this specific case, data centers.”

Founded in 1898, BKW is a power production and distribution utility based in Bern, Switzerland. Its energy mix mainly consists of nuclear and hydroelectric power. The utility also provides power to more than one million people across the canton of Bern.