HPC > Energy & environment
VectorMine/
Shutterstock.com
‘Continually improving efficiency is an important element but more needs to be done’
power and Pawsey anticipates that it is approaching 2MW and half of Pawsey’s current site capacity. Continually improving efficiency is an
important element but more needs to be done. So, what might better look like? Successful demonstration of green
power solutions will promote the uptake of new technologies for low emissions. They must be safe, workable solutions
that reduce operating costs and involve minimal disruption, but the costs could be more manageable with a demonstration component. A key element will be a suitable
battery system to provide minimum back- up power. Such a system would continue to supply energy in the case of outage but also have the capacity for substantial load-shifting from time periods where energy is low-cost to periods of peak demand and highest cost.
Lithium-ion is, of course, a proven
battery technology but capacity at the necessary scale to support high performance computing is not yet available. Even the community batteries installed
in several suburbs around Australia that store electricity for many homes only have about 200 kW capacity, about 20 times smaller than required. But there is progress. Google last year announced a 2.75MW lithium-ion battery system for a data centre in Belgium that could store 5.5MWh, which is a big jump in capacity, but still smaller than that required for an uninterruptible power supply.
The installation is a proof of concept that will only replace a fraction of the Google centre’s diesel capacity but it does demonstrate technology at scale, which could pave the way for other high- energy users. As the quest for energy storage goes on, supercomputers continue to support the research that could deliver better batteries for high energy users.
For more info about HPC and sustainability, visit:
www.scientific-computing.com/energy-environment
It is a reminder that the urgent problems of the 21st century, such as efficient green energy storage at scale, demand analysis and action sooner than can be achieved by traditional computing. Supercomputing provides that speed – but speed cannot be delivered at any cost. Our stakeholders and the broader community are demanding higher levels of accountability for our use of the resources that power and cool our systems. Australia’s high performance
computing community has a positive mindset, and we are ready to collaborate to team up with our emerging partners to find solutions. SCW
Mark Stickells is the Executive Director of the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Perth, Western Australia
SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD
Summer 2023 Scientific Computing World 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42
