Datacentre power |
Rolls-Royce secures power supply for Middle East’s largest supercomputer
Rolls-Royce has successfully commissioned twelve mtu Kinetic PowerPacks to secure uninterrupted power supply to one of the world’s largest supercomputers, located at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia
The fully customised, turnkey secure power system for KAUST is equipped with rotating kinetic energy accumulators, providing the university’s Scientific Computing Data Center, which hosts the supercomputer, with uninterruptible power. The system, which provides more than 19 MW power output in total, is described as ‘dynamic UPS’ because it employs rotating flywheel masses.
“The mtu Kinetic PowerPacks are state-of- the-art, uninterruptible electrical power systems that are designed for operating in extreme environments and provide the highest reliability of back-up power for the most critical and essential systems, such as healthcare facilities, airports, data centres and in our case, our future supercomputer Shaheen III, which will be the most powerful supercomputer in the Middle East and allow KAUST to greatly enhance its ability for scientific discovery and AI innovation,” said Matthew Early, vice president, facilities, at KAUST. “The work completed on this complex design-and-build order for KAUST has been extremely rewarding,” said Karim Hamzaoui, operations manager at the Rolls-Royce Power
Systems business unit. As well as providing power generation technology, “this was an opportunity… to showcase our ability to be a complete solution provider, taking on the full scope of all aspects of the project, from manufacturing and testing to delivery and installation, creating a customised solution from top to bottom.” The mtu Kinetic PowerPacks were
manufactured and underwent successful factory acceptance testing in Liege, Belgium at the Rolls- Royce facility. The 12 units, along with medium- voltage switchgears, were then shipped for installation at the site. The team from Rolls-Royce managed the complete local scope including construction and electrical infrastructure to ensure the site would be ready on time. Each mtu Kinetic PowerPack has a power output of 1.6 MW, operates at the medium voltage level of 13.8 kV, 60 Hz and is powered by an mtu 16V 4000 G74S diesel engine. The systems are designed for humid ambient conditions and temperatures of up to 50° Celsius. With 12 units in total delivered to KAUST, the Kinetic PowerPacks were installed in two groups of six systems each, with one available as a back-
up in each group (5 + 1 redundancy). In the event of a power outage, the constantly rotating, robust kinetic energy accumulator guarantees both the starting of the diesel engine and instantaneous securing of the critical load.
“The mtu Kinetic PowerPacks securing our 16 MW Scientific Computing Data Center are not only highly efficient and robust, but also limit the Center’s carbon footprint by replacing the existing uninterruptible power supply system based on batteries,” said Mani John, data centers & critical facilities manager, KAUST. “We are pleased to have a new solution that delivers reliable, uninterrupted power, which also aligns with our sustainability goals.”
“The addition of the Kinetic PowerPacks enhances the capability of the KAUST utilities system by achieving power conditioning in addition to delivering reliable power to critical computing loads,” added Hesham A. Alsulaimani, director, utilities services, for KAUST. KAUST, a renowned high-tech seat of learning, can claim to have one of the world’s best supercomputing installations. It is also the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
KAUST campus
32 | March 2023|
www.modernpowersystems.com
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