Miroslav Sviezeny, COO and co-founder of Qarnot, discusses the company’s evolution from providing distributed computing in homes to a larger-scale operation for high-performance computing (HPC). Qarnot’s QBx is a compute module that integrates between 12 to 24 high-performance processors. The system utilizes cold water to cool the servers and dissipate their heat, with hot water exiting at 65°C. The process is highly efficient, converting 95% of the servers’ wasted heat into hot water.
The Qarnot compute modules are installed in locations that need significant amounts of heat year-round. These include large swimming pools, spas, and district heating networks. The company’s business model involves selling the recovered heat to these sites and also selling the computing power to clients.
This model allows Qarnot to offer computing power at a significantly lower price than the market. They don’t have the typical CapEx and OpEx of building and operating a traditional data center.
Central District Heating via High Power Computing
Heat recovery from high-power computing is utilized for central district water heating. This is one of the applications Qarnot serves with its products. Miroslav Sviezeny, COO and co-founder of Qarnot, discusses a specific application in Belgium that will be deployed this year.
This site includes individual houses, a hospital, and a swimming pool. Qarnot’s technology is being used to replace part of an existing gas heating system. This change makes the system more sustainable. It also becomes less expensive. The units are installed directly into the central heating system and connect to existing pipes.
Qarnot’s technology addresses the “baseload” of a site. This means the system requires a minimum heat consumption to be viable. The minimum baseload is typically 200 kW, but in Belgium, it’s slightly less, at 150 kW.
The technology can be integrated into new greenfield developments. However, it cannot be the only heating system. Another system is still needed to handle “spikes” in demand. The product is a “multiple duties” solution that offers a more sustainable approach to heating.