THE EDGE
companies to invest in infrastructure to reap these rewards .
For data centres and the power companies , the end state is no harmful carbon emissions . For the data centre sector , that state might look like a world of closed carbon cycle bio-fuelled generators and battery energy storage backup being powered by excess renewable energy .
Achieving integration between the grid and data centres in this way will require a series of incremental steps , many of which are , as yet , unclear and undefined . It will require flexibility on both sides as well as the embracing of new business models to make it happen .
There are already plenty of initiatives planned and in progress . There is , for example , the promise of hundreds of GWs of offshore renewable energy in the UK . There are also pilot projects within data centres for scaling up hydrogenpowered operations .
Should data centres overcome inertia towards Demand Response ?
The challenge is that to date , there has too often been a reluctance on the part of data centre operators to
provide Demand Response services . This is in part due to a focus on their primary function – that of maintaining continuous power and cooling to the IT load . However , today DR could present a logical bridge to further collaboration .
In the data centre operator space , one possible scenario is that a global giant – an Equinix , Digital Realty or CyrusOne on the commercial side or an Amazon or Microsoft cloud hyperscaler – agrees commercial power sharing deals with a utility . This could spark a rush to get some skin in the game .
But that begs a rather big question , if GWs of valuable power capacity exist inside existing data centres then doesn ’ t the lack of discussion between operators and utilities appear rather short-sighted ?
By ignoring Demand Response options , data centre operators who don ’ t engage with an energy sector in transition could find themselves being left out in the cold , resulting in missed opportunities for gaining both new revenues and green credentials . For a traditionally conservative sector where margins are often under pressure , this would appear to be an unusually high-risk strategy . ◊
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