LondonEnergy’s waste powers the web

LondonEnergy Ltd (LEL) has today announced a new agreement with Ark Data Centres.

LEL’s energy from waste plant in Edmonton, North London will be supplying electricity directly to a newly-established Ark facility located near to the plant. LEL already generates income by converting waste into electricity – which therefore reduces waste disposal costs for North London residents.

The agreement with Ark Data Centres will deliver enhanced value whilst providing a cost-effective, reliable, direct service for the new computer server centre which has relatively high energy requirements.

Jim Kendall, Operations Director of LondonEnergy, comments: “We are excited to announce this agreement with our new neighbours, Ark Data Centres, a first of its kind for LondonEnergy.  As we look to the future and society’s transition to more sustainable sources of energy, I can see many more opportunities of this nature opening up. LondonEnergy is delighted to be working with Ark to help improve the environmental credentials of what is an energy-intensive business.” Under the agreement, LondonEnergy will supply up to 22MW of power to the Ark facility via a physical connection, known as a ‘private wire’ network, to supply electricity from the LEL Energy Centre to the data centre hosting computer servers. This is a relatively energy-intensive operation, particularly for the cooling needed to keep the servers at operating temperature.

Councillor Clyde Loakes chairs the North London Waste Authority – the public body which is the sole shareholder of LEL.  Commenting on the agreement, Councillor Loakes said: “This agreement is great news financially and economically for the residents of North London.  Converting waste into electricity reduces waste disposal costs and this new partnership supports important business development in the area.  It further demonstrates LEL’s commitment to working hard in sustainable solutions for waste disposal.  Powering the online world is better than pushing more material into landfill.

Huw Owen, Ark’s CEO, adds: “This is the exciting next step in Ark’s development as a leader within our industry.  We look forward to continuing to provide market-leading data services to existing and new clients from this new location at Enfield.  Our arrangement with LondonEnergy further enhances our already excellent client offering and we are extremely pleased to be able to add yet further value to our clients and their businesses and their businesses.  All, of course, made possible by the incredible talent and hard work of the Ark team who continue to deliver these world class outcomes.”