With Big Data comes great responsibility: Achieving sustainability for data centers

Data centers are the engine rooms keeping our digital lives up and running – but they come with environmental challenges, power issues and other concerns.

The more devices we connect, time we spend online and automate our lives via apps, the more we continue to generate exceptional quantities of data. Data we need to process and store - electronically - in data centers powered by electricity.

We’re also living in a time where artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining immense momentum and causing sustainability concerns. A single ChatGPT query can generate 100 times more carbon than a regular Google search. Another significant impact that AI has on the electrical grid is related to spikes and changes in the load profile. We are unable to predict when peaks in AI usage will occur and therefore, cannot predict the power supply centers need to cope with these spikes.   

As data center owners and managers look to become more sustainable, make cost efficiencies and achieve net zero (i.e. no carbon has been emitted) and in some cases carbon neutrality (i.e. balancing out the amount of carbon emitted), how can we break down the journey to sustainable data centers into manageable steps? While also utilizing technology for continuous efficiency improvements? 

1. Integrating renewables for 99.99% uptime

We need to do much more than simply use more renewable energy sources to power these facilities. We must connect and integrate them in a way that is not only holistic and ensures all elements work together, but in a way that ensures reliable and secure energy supply, minimal downtime and outage prevention across all facilities.

Of course, powering data centers with cleaner and more sustainable energy in the first place is a huge step towards carbon neutrality but only if the right infrastructure and support is in place to ensure reliable power supply. Power that is agile, sustainable and future-proof.

2. Don’t waste energy – Self-consume it or trade it at the optimal price

If we think about ‘traditional’ energy that powers data centers, many facilities are already utilizing renewable energy such as wind power and solar PV but can often produce more energy than is needed and therefore, goes to waste. But there is a way to change that and prevent excess power from dissipating into thin air.

An alternative is to look at adding a microgrid.

A microgrid is a dedicated electrical grid system to power that facility and is an effective strategy for data centers to improve sustainability by better managing energy consumption and making efficiencies.

One of the main concerns with relying upon renewable energy is their intermittency. This can be solved through new and innovative battery energy storage solutions (BESS). BESS can capture and store excess renewable energy and use it when it’s needed – for example, at nighttime when the solar panels are unable to capture the sun’s rays.

We can take this one step further by integrating renewable energy and empowering the center to supply and distribute excess power directly to support other buildings on site or within the local community.

With data insight gathered from these assets and infrastructure, owners and operators can monitor consumption and identify peak times throughout the day, using that insight to re-distribute the energy to where it’s needed and not risk it going unused.

We can take this even further by looking at using both Hydrogen and BESS as dual use – let’s say by replacing the use of conventional fossil fuel generators with hydrogen power generators at both a microgrid level and backup power concept.

Not only can microgrids make use of both BESS and Hydrogen but when we look to backup power, the idea is the following: 

• UPS for instant and short-term power (minutes)
• BESS for mid-term power (minutes to a couple of hours)
• And Hydrogen for long-term power with the ultimate goal of removing diesel gensets as a backup source

Additionally, we can also look at the design of the microgrid and data centers to support our vision for a sustainable future. Modular and eco-friendly designs benefit data centers’ sustainability goals as they can be easily deployed and repeated through standardized prefabricated grid connection solutions. Not only does this make adding compute capacity faster, more flexible and energy-efficient, but they support project deliverables being on time and within budget.

Microgrids are uniquely positioned to create a local, flexible, efficient energy ecosystem that reduces the facility’s data carbon footprint, whilst isolating the data center from grid disturbances and providing backup power to ensure it remains operational.

3. Get better access to power by participating in the demand response market

With the sector’s tremendous growth, data centers can find themselves competing to get access to power. Utilities are also not always able to deliver the required power to the locations needed, because of grid and power generation constraints.

However, if a data center would have a flexible load requirement, utilities would be more inclined to provide a higher power connection. Grid Edge solutions provide data centers the ability of demand response, supporting power demand flexibility and enabling participation in the demand response market.

BESS is also considered as ‘additional power’ when there is not enough power available from the utility. So, if the utility only allows X amount of power, and the data center needs X+Y, we can add BESS with Y amount to match its needs.

4. Leveraging data insights to make better sustainability decisions

With data intelligence comes great responsibility… or at least incredible insight to base decisions on.

Innovative technologies and digital solutions are urging quicker, tailored, more intelligent and data-driven decisions across data center facilities, including:

• Asset performance management - Equip your team with a day-to-day tool that informs complex asset maintenance decisions and balances your portfolio resources.
• Energy portfolio management - Make more informed decisions with end-to-end solutions for mission-critical investment, regulatory compliance, operations, and trading.
• Operational reduction programs - Maximize the lifetime value of your assets​, minimize downtime and prevent failures with asset insight through time-based and corrective-maintenance.
• Predictive maintenance - Empower your organization further with condition-based and predictive maintenance through digitalized and connected assets.

Data-driven decision-making has enormous potential to optimize efficiency and reduce environmental impact. 

5. Maximize the lifetime value of your assets

The energy transition begins with your existing infrastructure.

Advanced technologies and aging assets require ongoing maintenance, troubleshooting, and both hardware and software upgrades, making Service an essential partner to ensure the reliability, efficiency and sustainability of energy systems. And in doing so, you’ll protect and future-proof these energy assets through thorough understanding and intelligent insight.

Having a dedicated service partner that can support you from installation, to maintenance, repair & upgrade and even through to decommissioning ensures your assets are covered across their entire lifecycle, enabling resilient operations, improved availability and reliability, cost efficiencies, improved performance and proven ROI.

It’s up to you whether this would look like a standalone solution, or a bundled service option, such as our comprehensive EnCompass™ Agreements.
 

Energizing sustainable data centers of the future

A sustainable energy future will depend on electrification at scale supported by technical innovations and data. Whilst this may sound daunting – or perhaps a bit overwhelming – with proper support and a dedicated partner at your side, it can be both easier and more affordable than you may think.

Mitigate risks. Maximize performance. Optimize operations.

By maximizing electrical system resilience, improving overall sustainability of the data center and boosting profitability, we’ve built our reputation on solving real-world challenges, helping to unlock our partners’ and customers’ full power potential.

If you’d like to speak to us today about making the operations of your data center more sustainable and efficient, please don’t hesitate to contact us.