Data Centres

Data Centres and Decarbonisation: a BNEF study

We commissioned a study from the primary research company BloombergNEF to examine how data centres can provide grid auxiliary services to store renewable energy, in addition to the service many already provide by feeding waste heat into urban district heating systems. 

The outcome was a report called Data Centres and Decarbonisation: Unlocking flexibility in Europe's Data Centres  that revealed the potential availability of 16.9 GW of flexibility across the five of Europe’s largest markets.

The study, which we commissioned jointly with the Norwegian energy company Statkraft, will provide politicians and policymakers with information to aid their thinking on revisions to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).

• Many large data centres have intrinsic excess capacity that could be allocated for flexibility, and thus contribute to system energy savings, provided that an appropriate regulatory framework is developed. Policymakers can make much of this opportunity. 

• We want to see demand-side flexibility included amongst the Data Centre Sustainability Indicator criteria in the EED so that Member States are required to report on the possibilities and opportunities for data centres to contribute to grid flexibility and storage. 

Exploring UPS flexibility

In partnership with Microsoft, we have written a technical whitepaper explaining how the uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in a data centre can act as source of fast frequency response to help the grid accommodate the intermittency associated with renewables.

As renewables replace fossil fuels, the inertia of rotating mass on the grid will disappear. By providing fast frequency response data centres could bridge that gap, ensuring smooth supply to customers.

Read more and download the report.

Our EnergyAware UPS

Grid-interactivity fundamentally alters the environmental impact of a data centre. By providing valuable electrical services to transmission system operators and the grid, data centres become an enabling mechanism in the energy transition.

Our EnergyAware UPS puts data centres operators in control of their energy by allowing them to choose how much capacity to offer, when, and at what price. They earn from their investment in our technology and become more sustainable by aiding renewable energy flow.

We are expanding our collaboration with Microsoft to accelerate applications of our EnergyAware UPS technology. Read our press release.