INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE POWERED BY THE DCA
Simply relying on general data is not enough to support
informed decision making or activity. By using devices that can
harvest more than just the very basic energy readings, valuable
preventive and corrective action can be taken that is rooted in
robust information.
As the facility expands, the use of
permanent power monitoring to collect
real time data provides accurate
visibility in terms of overall capacity,
making it simple to add equipment
without changing the power distribution
architecture, or upgrading cooling
systems, for example.
The wider impact of mastering energy
monitoring means that because
consumption can be broken down, it’s
possible to identify tangible cost-saving
opportunities that will result in a reduction
in monthly utility billing.
What’s the role of Power
Usage Effectiveness?
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) – the
industry-accepted energy efficiency
metric as defined by ISO / IEC 30134-
2:2016 (standard information technology –
Colin Dean, Managing Director,
Socomec UK
data) – enables the energy efficiency of a
data centre to be tracked and measured.
As a key performance indicator, PUE
considers the ratio of the data centre’s
total power consumption to the power
consumption of IT. The closer to 1 that
the PUE is, the more efficient the facility,
indicating that most of the power
consumed is supporting IT servers.
In the evolution of PUE, it’s important
to correlate with power quality and
environmental factors; for example, a
lower PUE in winter is considered to be
normal as a result of the season’s low
temperatures. For the most accurate
results, the measurement of PUE by
area or application must be conducted
as close to the final IT loads as possible
in order to help best understand where
changes need to be made as well as
where to prioritise resource.
Meeting today’s data
centre challenges
While every facility operates within the
unique parameters of its own electrical
architecture, service continuity is the
single most important challenge for all
data centres.
The reliability, quality and maintainability
of the power supply are key success
factors in guaranteeing service. The
incoming supply must be continuously
monitored in order to detect deviations
or abnormal events and to support wellinformed
decisions about which corrective
action to pursue. Continuous monitoring
is a preventative measure when it comes
to the premature ageing of the electrical
installation or equipment – this also
optimises costs and avoids data losses.
How are Power Quality Meters
playing a vital role?
Power Quality Meters (PQM) – with
the implementation of real time alerts
– enable the health of the electrical
distribution to be monitored and to detect
drifts in measurements, optimising power
availability, guaranteeing continuity and
protecting critical assets.
In terms of efficiency, by managing IT and
cooling equipment more effectively, it is
possible to reduce energy consumption
and adapt the power demand to actual
requirements significantly when it’s
considered that cooling can represent up
to 40% of the total energy used to operate
a data centre.
By measuring more accurately
through branch-circuit monitoring and
guaranteeing fluctuations at a very low
load current – rather than using less
reliable standard revenue grade meters
– the power usage of individual tenants,
for example, can be invoiced fairly and
accurately at rack level.
Why every data centre needs
Power Quality Meters (PQM)
In order to ensure continuity, it’s
absolutely vital to manage reliability,
quality and maintainability. The incoming
supply must be rigorously monitored
– continuously – in order to detect
deviations or abnormal events but not
only to detect those events, to also
22 Issue 15
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