• • • DATA CENTRE MANAGEMENT • • •
the Council to store excess power generated by their solar array to maximise its output. The capacity to store solar-generated energy
means the Council can manage their export – a critical capability to avoid exceeding agreed export capacity, thus eliminating the risk of penalties from National Grid. In a volatile – and expensive – energy market,
this facility provides the flexibility to sell power back to the grid when prices are higher, giving even greater opportunity to make the most of energy budgets and on-site generation from renewables. The new BESS solution is helping the Council
to futureproof its energy supply through implementing an energy management strategy focused on power resilience. The move to renewables throws up a range of
questions which organisations and companies need to be mindful of, especially at a time when we are still unclear as to how the government will facilitate the achievement of net zero by 2050. To pre-empt supply issues and to harness the
opportunities that a shift to renewables offers will continue to be a balancing act. Fossil fuels have
generally been a reliable source of energy – though this has been called into question on a global scale, particularly in recent months. But renewable energy is still inflexible and potentially unstable, meaning an inevitable impact on the stability of power supply from the grid. And this is all at a time when electricity demands are set to increase exponentially, given a more data-driven, connected world with the added and significant demands of electric vehicle charging and electrified heating. In this environment, the capability that a
BESS system gives to store energy on-site looks set to become a vital element for undisrupted workflow and for the protection of digital assets. Business-critical, and no longer a nice-to-have. At South Staffordshire Council, investment in a
resilient energy management strategy has proven both effective and efficient since installation. The system has protected their site from significant blackouts, providing sitewide resilience for 2.5 hours at peak load. This has enabled the Council to remove their carbon-intensive back-up generator, while maintaining vital energy
resilience. In one outage, there was a drop in voltage to 0, a transient power cut that lasted for approximately three minutes. However, the full load for the site was supported by the new BESS system throughout the outage, preventing any loss of power, and keeping all electrical equipment, including IT systems and servers, running as normal with no interruption to the service. In this context, and mindful of the pressing
questions of the energy trilemma, all businesses need to be looking to futureproof energy supplies as far as possible, and nowhere is this a more critical issue than for data centres. Behind the meter generation and energy
storage capabilities combine to reduce the effects of fluctuations in the National Grid’s supply. The more that can be installed for behind the meter security, the less vulnerable t he organisation is to climate change, to government policy, and to geopolitical events. There have never been more compelling times to invest in energy management for the long-term, to minimise risk as far as possible in uncertain times.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • APRIL 2022 15
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