Leading Data Center Operator Digital Realty Supplies Waste Heat to SAMSON AG in the East End of Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main, 2 April 2025 – Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, has signed an agreement with SAMSON AG to supply waste heat to the SAMSON site in Frankfurt. Waste heat generated at the FRA 14 data center will help heat SAMSON's ROLF SANDVOSS INNOVATION CENTER (RSIC), which is located right next to Digital Realty's digital park in the east end of Frankfurt. A heat pump will be used to raise the temperature of the hot water supplied to the required temperature. As a result, the RSIC will no longer have to depend on gas as an energy source for its heating.

"We are pleased to be able to provide sustainable and eco-friendly heating energy to a company in the close vicinity," commented Mr. Volker Ludwig, SVP and Managing Director DACH at Digital Realty. Mr. Ludwig continued: "The new plant for waste heat recovery allows us to supply our neighbor SAMSON with climate-friendly heating and significantly contribute to the environmental initiative set out by the city of Frankfurt am Main. Projects for waste heat recovery help us increase our energy efficiency, while making our digital services even more sustainable for our customers' innovative data and AI solutions. Digital Realty currently reclaims waste heat generated by its data centers to supply ten district heating networks to support sustainable energy solutions in urban areas."

Dr. Dominic Deller, CFO at SAMSON AG, commented: "This sustainable way of heating allows us to cut our consumption of fossil fuels and significantly reduce our CO₂ emissions. Sustainability is an essential part of our corporate strategy. With MainChange, we are building an ultra-modern factory in Offenbach according to the most stringent environmental standards. It is therefore logical that the one building that will remain in Frankfurt also becomes more energy efficient." Dr. Deller is especially pleased to have found the neighboring Digital Realty as a partner to realize this goal. Through the local supply of hot water SAMSON avoids using additional energy unnecessarily and increases energy efficiency for an even better sustainability.

Some of the hot water in the FRA 14 building will be directly drawn from the return circuit of the cooling ring and routed over insulated pipelines to the heat pump at SAMSON. A high-temperature heat pump is needed to raise the temperature in the heating circuit to 75 °C. The new heating is scheduled to start in October 2026. The project received federal state funding. The contract signed by Digital Realty and SAMSON AG spans 15 years, with an option to extend it. It is expected to cut carbon emissions annually by more than 80 tonnes.

The concept to use the waste heat produced by Digital Realty for the RSIC was drawn up by Fabian Fuchs as part of his bachelor thesis. He studied mechanical engineering in a work-and-study program at SAMSON with special focus on energy and actuator technology. Mr. Fuchs developed the technical solution for the sustainable use of heat in combination with a high-temperature heat pump in 2023. His calculations verified the technical feasibility, cost-effectiveness and environmental benefits. It created the groundwork for the collaboration with Digital Realty. After completing his studies, Mr. Fabian Fuchs became a subproject manager for energy at SAMSON. He now belongs to a team working on sustainable energy supply at the new site in Offenbach.

About SAMSON

SAMSON AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, develops and manufactures control valves, automation systems and digital solutions for the process industry. The control of liquids, gases and steam makes SAMSON a reliable partner for various industrial sectors including the chemical, pharmaceutical, power and energy and food processing industries.

As part of the MainChange project, the largest innovation venture ever undertaken in over 117 year history of SAMSON, the company is relocating its headquarters and its 2,000-strong workforce. The move to Offenbach am Main is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. An ultramodern factory in the city is being built on a 14.3 ha plot of land in Offenbach with sustainable construction and manufacturing methods. The ROLF SANDVOSS INNOVATION CENTER (RSIC) will remain at its current location in Frankfurt am Main.

The company employs over 5,000 staff members worldwide and manufactures at 17 sites in nine different countries.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL^®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx^®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of more than 300 facilities in more than 50 cities across over 25 countries on six continents.