• • • DATA CENTRES & UPS• • •
Sustainable power solutions will be vital to
data centre sector growth Nick Ewing, managing director, EfficiencyIT
he data centre market experienced exponential growth in 2024. Estimates of its global value have varied, but today, it is estimated to be worth around $310bn. Future Data Stats predicts the market will reach nearly $630bn by 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 11 percent. The good news is that some of the biggest growth is expected to be in Europe.
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Digital transformation This massive expansion has been driven by an ever-increasing demand for cloud services, digital transformation and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). According to Fortune Business Insights, the COVID-19 pandemic also played a key role in countries globally switching to digital education, remote working, gaming, e-commerce and entertainment, in turn increasing demand for data centre services.
As more companies beefed up their IT infrastructure to satisfy growing demands, other key areas of the industry, such as colocation and the hyperscale cloud, became the main sectors driving data centre growth.
Embracing sustainability At the same time, there has also been a significant shift towards embracing sustainability. In fact, recent reports have shown that AI is expected to increase energy and emissions; with recent hyperscale omissions, the spotlight is now on the data centre market, which is expected to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
As such, many end-users and operators in the UK have been looking at ways to reduce their environmental impact, while improving efficiency by deploying more energy-efficient power and cooling solutions. They have also embraced data-intensive technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twins software and AI, to ensure their infrastructure systems are designed to be as sustainable and energy-efficient as possible.
Resiliency is the primary objective
This growth has also presented challenges not only from a sustainability or power consumption standpoint, but also from a reliability perspective. For example, one of the biggest challenges within the industry remains continuity, where the most
minor outage can compromise safety, health and even data security.
Indeed, research from the Uptime Institute suggests that each year, on average, 10 to 20 high-profile IT outages or data centre events cause serious or severe financial loss, business and customer disruption, reputational loss and, in extreme cases, loss of life.
Mitigating unplanned outages Power failures still remain one of the biggest causes of unplanned data centre outages. That is why many organisations looking to increase the reliability of their electrical and data centre systems must take extra care when selecting their UPS technology and any accompanying maintenance or support services. For example, many businesses seeking to upgrade or modernise their UPS systems require their data centre management teams or external partners to provide fully integrated solutions that can help them achieve energy efficiency and sustainability objectives while delivering maximum uptime and availability and minimising total cost of ownership (TCO).
The type of UPS topology and the systems design are essential in terms of the power or load it can support. Should there be a power outage, for example, the UPS will need to come into operation immediately, ensuring seamless reliability. Therefore, adding redundancy via an N+1 configuration with two UPS deployed concurrently may be pertinent, which has implications for both cost and efficiency.
Credit: Claudio Schwarz 46 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • SEPTEMBER 2024
66 percent more energy savings Energy consumption is another key factor in meeting sustainability objectives, and here, the UPS’s operating mode is essential. For example, some three-phase UPS solutions, such as Schneider Electric’s Galaxy V series, can deliver up-to 97 percent efficiency in its normal operating mode and up-to 99 percent using Schneider’s patented ECOnversion technology, which is equivalent to 66 percent higher energy savings. Other operational efficiencies can also be achieved through innovative design features. For example, with a physical footprint of under one square metre (50 percent more compact than the industry average), the Galaxy VL range of UPSs enables power to be scaled incrementally from 200kW to 500kW by using 50kW power modules. It also features ‘Live Swap’ technology, which allows power modules to be added and replaced safely while in operation without the risk of costly downtime.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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