Data Centers & Microgrids: A Natural Fit
Microgrid Knowledge
The largest news site about all things microgrid and host of the microgrid industry's annual conference.
By Bill Kleyman, Microgrid Knowledge
Today, the data center industry consumes about as much power as the entire global airline industry. And, based on research from the field, these levels of energy consumption will only continue to increase. Research studies estimate that ongoing power costs are growing at least 10% per year due to cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increases and underlying demand. This power increase is especially true for high-power density servers. Approximately 10% of data center operating expenditure (OPEX) is power, and that number is likely to increase to 15% of data center OPEX within five years.
As more organizations place their new IT systems into the data center (colocation, hyperscale and private/enterprise), energy efficiency and procuring data center power are extremely important. And, they are essential for multiple reasons. First, data center administrators are working hard to cut costs, but it is not always easy. Those same administrators are also working overtime to minimize fragmented management overhead and improve infrastructure efficiency.
Consider this:
A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council indicates that data center electricity consumption is projected to increase to roughly 140 billion kWh annually in 2020, the equivalent annual output of 50 power plants, costing American businesses $13 billion annually in electricity.
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But it is not just at the core data center locations where energy consumption is increasing. Organizations are also investing in distributed computing and edge environments to support more users and more use cases. These hyperscale data centers are commonly sited where power is the least expensive, which is frequently in remote areas. Often, in rural areas, working with reliable power solutions can be a challenge. Moreover, environmental conditions in these locations, such as storms, fallen trees, high winds, or intense heat, do not help, either. Organizations need ways to support critical, ongoing operations at the edge and beyond.
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