DATA CENTRES | NUCLEAR MARKETS


nuclear power station in Pennsylvania. Although this is an interesting first, the authors point out that large power plants can only be found on a relatively small number of sites, which limits the possibilities for joint deployment. The reduced footprint and enhanced safety features SMRs will thus multiply the choice of sites where co-location with data centres can become the norm. The report identifies a number of additional advantages


that SMRs have over their larger cousins. One of these advantages is power matching between a data centre and SMRs. It identifies two options for power matching when planning SMR-powered new data centres. One is the energy hub which integrates a data centre within a low-carbon energy hub and where the installed capacity is comfortably above the data centre demand. In this case the SMR would provide the energy supply backbone while storage systems and UPS can be integrated if necessary. A second option is the use of a dedicated Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) with power output of below 10 MWe and which exactly matches data centre power demand and enables virtually parallel deployment of both data centre and reactor modules. Advantages of MMRs noted in the report are quick construction, high multi-modularity, and versatility. The authors point out that MMRs are likely to see quicker permitting times than SMRs, and may even be shorter than that for data centres in a country where the first-of-a-kind reactor has already been deployed. Moreover, given MMRs usually have a design lifetime that depends on the power demand, the projected end-of-life of the plant and a data centre can be matched beforehand making the lifetime of the installations compatible. However, the authors also sound a note of caution regarding the cost competitiveness of the MMR option.


Another benefit is the security of energy supply and


reliability that an SMR offers. High availability is a key requirement for data centres, where the service continuity is very close to 100%, typically 5-nines or 99.999% of the time. This corresponds to a downtime of slightly above 5


minutes per year. Single source electricity supply systems cannot deliver this level of service with the authors noting that even the best performing nuclear plants have an uptime of around 95% while intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar panels have capacity factors as low as 25%. To achieve the desired availability data centres rely on the transmission and distribution system. SMR powered microgrids can eliminate network distribution losses that are typically of the order of 5-10% in western Europe. Such microgrids can facilitate the clustering of complementary industries with power and heat demand and thus fuel utilisation is optimised. Where the SMR and the data centre cannot be physically located close to each other, ‘virtual coupling’ is possible in which the SMR is connected to the downstream energy system that provides emission-free power to the data centre. A dedicated microgrid that can operate in island mode is an option in which different energy sources complement each other in all situations. Nonetheless, the report states that higher availability for single sources like SMRs means that the least CAPEX is required on installing back-up resources or assets that are mostly idle. Furthermore, SMRs can provide primary energy, and generate additional hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells that can act as a secondary power supply to achieve resilience and diversity of energy sources. Both SMRs and fuel cell technologies have exceptionally high reliability attributes (respectively able to achieve 90%-95% and 95%-99% in configurations incorporating redundant components) which can meet the data centre uptime requirements. The onsite hydrogen production can thus replace back- up engines and battery storage. Sufficient hydrogen can be stored to power the fuel cells when back-up energy is required while any surplus hydrogen could be used to enable a secure emission-free local supply. Given that nuclear power is a capital-intensive commitment, albeit with the benefit of guaranteeing long-term stability of the energy price, the provision of additional energy products


Above: A 48 MW data centre is directly connected to the 2,475 MW Susquehanna nuclear power station in Pennsylvania but the scope for large plants is limited


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