Introduction
For those outside of the day to day working of this sector, the size and scale of Data Centres are an unknown quantity. Data Centres are a 24/7 operation, forming a critical part of the global infrastructure and varying greatly in terms of physical size, capacity, ownership and resilience.
Business sectors span global internet brands, venture capital companies, telecom providers and financial institutions, to small scale operators. Users are also mixed and include global web service organisations, co-location hosting providers, financial institutions and streaming services through to lowest cost internet service providers. Many are placed at the hubs of the internet, offering a wide and varied range of ICT services that make up a key part of our everyday lives which we take for granted. With most having backup power systems provided at the M&E infrastructure level, a few others secure their redundancy at the ICY level instead.
Our consumption of data and use of web-based services has been growing rapidly at typically above 50% a year for over 20 years (+4% a month). This is a level of consistent growth not seen in many other market sectors. During this period, the capability and capacity (per watt) of ICT hardware has also seen significant technical advances with a CAGR increase in excess of 40%. When translated into energy consumption, this probably equates to an increase of around 10-15%, with data centres accounting for at least 3% of global CO2 emissions.
On a global basis, the ‘best guess’ power consumption has been growing at 10% CAGR. With issues such as proximity to end user business, availability of power and connectivity being key location drivers, the larger data centre builds tend to be focused in a key few locations, including Slough, West London and Hemel Hempstead in the UK, and Dublin in Ireland.
Dealing with the application of a generating set to any requirement can be complex. This is particularly true of data centres. This article aims to cover some of the key elements that need to be considered.
About WB Power Services
WBPS is a Leading Critical Power Specialist.
WB Power Services have been providing maintenance contracts for over 30 years.
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