EDGE CENTRES
centres online every four months . “ If you can only drop one site every six months , even if you build them concurrently , you ' re going to end up way behind ,” he explains . “ So , we started looking at solar as an alternative way of powering these facilities .”
Edge Centres began exploring the possibility of running an edge data centre site using solar panels with a backup generator and no connection to the grid ( at least at first ). “ It came to the point where we calculated that we could probably run our sites completely off-grid ,” he recalls .
When Eaves and I spoke , the Grafton data centre had been running on exclusively solar power for just over three months with no connection to the national grid . “ We ' re now at 93 days today - not that I ' m counting - of being 100 % solar powered . At the moment , the site has a backup generator , which we haven ' t needed to run , and no utility feeds ,” says Eaves .
Pushing the Boundaries of Power and Cooling A huge part of what makes Edge Centres ’ sites function independently from both the grid and ( so far ) their own UPS generators is the innovative approach that Eaves has taken to powering and cooling his facilities . Again , Eaves reflects that the challenges of the past year were a pivotal source of innovation . “ We ' ve actually developed our own air conditioners which sit differently to the units you can buy off the shelf . The problem with the off the shelf units is that , because of the pandemic , the world has a shortage of containers , which makes trying to get things delivered a challenge ,” he recalls .
“ My first container full of cabinets was moved off a ship because another customer was paying more . I ' ve had critical components delayed by two weeks because
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