Helen’s nationwide energy survey: Use of waste heat increases Finns’ support for data centres – electricity consumption raises concerns
According to Helen’s nationwide energy survey, 54 per cent of Finns have a positive attitude towards having a data centre in their municipality if the waste heat it generates is utilised. Without this condition, 41 per cent have a positive attitude. At the same time, data centres’ high electricity consumption and their potential impact on electricity prices are causing concern.
Finns are divided in their attitudes towards data centres. Overall, 41 per cent have a positive attitude towards them, while 44 per cent have a negative attitude. The use of waste heat changes this picture. When waste heat is utilised, more than half of Finns have a positive attitude towards a data centre being located in their municipality, while 31 per cent have a negative attitude. The creation of new jobs is also seen as a key benefit of data centres.
Electricity-related issues are among the main concerns surrounding data centres. 86 per cent believe that data centres must not jeopardise the availability of electricity, while 63 per cent would restrict their construction if they increase electricity prices. Data centres’ high electricity consumption is considered a disadvantage by 75 per cent of Finns, while 62 per cent consider their impact on electricity prices a disadvantage. Concern about electricity prices is particularly pronounced in northern and eastern Finland.
“The results show that the local impacts of data centres matter to Finns. Utilising waste heat and local benefits such as jobs increase their acceptability, but high electricity consumption and the potential impact on electricity prices are causing concern. However, data centre capacity will increase gradually, and the greatest demand for electricity will only materialise several years from now. This gives us time to increase electricity generation and strengthen transmission grids as demand grows,” says Miika Lindholm, Head of Energy Solutions for Data Centres at Helen.
Waste heat makes data centres part of the energy system
Data centres consume large amounts of electricity, but at the same time they generate substantial amounts of heat. The waste heat from a data centre located close to a district heating network can be recovered and used to heat homes and other buildings.
“Data centres’ electricity consumption should be viewed from the perspective of the energy system as a whole. District heating is increasingly produced using electric heat pumps and electric boilers, so making use of waste heat from data centres reduces the amount of electricity needed to produce district heating. A data centre’s impact on the energy system’s overall electricity consumption can therefore be smaller than the data centre’s own electricity consumption,” Lindholm says.
Waste heat from data centres is already heating homes and buildings in Helsinki
Helen was the first company in the world to utilise data centre waste heat as part of a district heating system, and has been doing so since 2010. In 2026, 11 data centres are connected to Helen’s district heating system, with their waste heat accounting for approximately 1.5 per cent of Helsinki’s district heating.
In addition, Helen and OnZero have agreed to utilise waste heat from a new data centre in Helsinki’s district heating network. At full scale, the data centre’s waste heat could provide enough heat each year to meet the heating needs of approximately 70,000 flats in apartment buildings.
About Helen’s nationwide energy survey
The data for Helen’s second nationwide energy survey of 2026 was collected by Verian through an online panel survey in early October 2026. A total of 1,021 people responded to the survey, and the sample is representative of the adult population of mainland Finland (margin of error ±3.1 percentage points).