Greener solutions for Data Centres

Temporary on-site decentralised/bridging power is the perfect solution to overcome the double whammy of grid connection unavailability/delay and the need to go-live by many data centre operators. With increased demand, competition and high expectations demanded from customers and stakeholders, getting the power equation right is of paramount importance.

Gas generation offers the perfect balance of lower emissions, reliability and power quality. The entire Data Centre industry is leaps and bounds ahead in its strong resolute to commit to net zero with its ambitious decarbonisation strategies. Today, we'll explore integrative greener solutions that not only help project owners align with their green commitments but also strengthen and consolidate their company's financial muscle, for on-site bridging power and microgrids. 

Energy Storage-as-a-service

Batteries/Energy storage can be integrated onto generation system as a way to reduce the number of backup generators for spinning reserve displacement. The power system can serve the same load but with fewer generators. When generators fail, battery can temporarily step in and make up for lost power. This hybrid approach enables BESS to help compensate for any disruptions to supply or frequency drops.

Not only does this approach improve the average efficiency levels across all gensets that makeup the on-site system, it also results in significant reduction of runtime on the displaced gensets and offer significant fuel savings. This translates to lower operation and maintenance costs along with emissions. 

Packaged onto a hired on-site bridging power solution, preserve your financial muscle for higher return investments whether it is future on-site expansion or operational capex. With rapid advancement in battery technologies, obsoleteness can be a challenge. In terms of range, options range between 30-90kVA perfect for use at construction while bigger 1MW units are perfect for bridging on-site generation solution.

Mobile Solar PV

• Deploying solar out from a standard container unit?
• Deploy on acquired adjacent undeveloped land but having the flexibility to reduce solar footprint when space is eventually required for Data Centre expansion?

That's the premise of Mobile PV Solar. While it can be integrated onto a bridging power solution along with batteries and gas generators, the flexibility, speed and ease of redeployment makes this a true gem.

Combine Heat & Power

One opportunity to save further money while reducing carbon is with combined heat and power (CHP) technology, which uses waste heat from the cooling system of the generators’ engines to produce heat and/or additional electricity supply for a data centre. Not only does this improve energy efficiency, but this approach produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than electricity from the grid. In addition, the waste heat can be diverted to be used with an absorption chiller unit to provide chilled water in a data centre’s cooling systems. An excellent example will be how a Romanian local utility used CHP to its advantage, reducing 45% in carbon emissions while fulfilling its mission to the local community.