Investor overview
Transforming industrial and urban waste heat into low-carbon energy
The full case, in sequence: the paradox, the concept, the measured opportunity, the technology, the roadmap and the numbers.
The industrial and urban heat paradox
Refineries and petrochemical plants discharge low-grade heat continuously through cooling towers and process effluent. Metro tunnels add dense passenger heat and stay warm year-round. All of it is vented to the atmosphere — while boilers a few hundred metres away burn natural gas to heat feedwater.
722,544kW
Gross waste heat
18–30°C
Source temperature
82
Bought and burned as gas
27
Select a station
Technology & AI engine
Capture a stable low-grade source, upgrade it with heat pumps under machine-learning control, deliver usable heat. Two delivery paths share one architecture.
- 01
Capture
Extract waste heat from refinery liquid effluent, process cooling loops and cooling towers. Sensors monitor flow rate and temperature continuously.
- 02
Upgrade
AI-governed water-to-water and air-to-water heat pumps amplify temperature using minimal electricity. Machine learning ingests real-time flow, temperature and steam demand to optimise compressor speeds — without disrupting primary operations.
- 03
Industrial supply
Deliver pre-heated boiler feedwater directly to refinery boilers, cutting natural gas combustion.
- 04
Facility supply
Deliver space heating and domestic hot water to administrative complexes and district heating networks.
Measured, not estimated
27 Baku Metro stations and 98 exits surveyed. Every figure on this site is reproducible from that dataset and four openly published constants.
541,908kW
Recoverable
2,373,557MWh
Annual energy recovered
474,711t
CO₂ avoided annually
237,356
Equivalent homes heated
| Assets | Focus |
|---|---|
| Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery | Cooling towers & effluent loops |
| SOCAR Polymer & Carbamide | Process steam vents & secondary cooling |
| Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park | Clustered manufacturing waste-heat nodes |
| SOCAR Tower | Administrative complex heat & cooling demand |
Why Baku beats the precedents
Higher passenger density means more waste heat per node, which means better economics on the same hardware. London Bunhill 2 and Warsaw M2 prove the concept works abroad; density is the argument that it works better here.
8.3
Baku — million passengers per station
3.7
London — million passengers per station
3.8+
Industrial
3.0
Urban / metro
The concept is proven abroad. The AI control layer and the Baku measurement set are what is new here. London Bunhill 2 (Underground heat recovery, 500+ homes heated) · Warsaw M2 (Metro heat-recovery system)
Commercial roadmap
Internal optimisation
Reduces tunnel temperatures and extends equipment lifespan without relying solely on the existing ventilator fleet.
External commercialisation
Sells upgraded hot water below the cost of grid electricity or gas heating.
National integration
Direct alignment with Azerbaijan's 2030 Green Energy Goals, unlocking subsidies and global offset markets.
Pilot feasibility
1.8MW
Thermal capacity
11.9GWh
Annual energy saved
476,000AZN
Annual cost savings
4.9–10years
Payback period
Payback differs by case and is shown separately. The two studies model different capital costs against the same module.
The ask
Fund the Phase 1 pilot. Validate the AI digital twin. Scale across the metro network and the petrochemical portfolio.
Figures on this site derive from the 2025 Baku Metro measurement programme.
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