Data centers are the backbone of the digital age, powering the applications, services, and technologies that we rely on every day. As the demand for data centers continue to grow, the need for reliable and sustainable power does as well.
Microgrids (sometimes called live wire) and primary power plants can utilize a range of sustainable fuels, including hydrogen, renewable natural gas or biomethane or HVO (Hydrotreated vegetable oil), to provide data centers with the resiliency and sustainability they need to support their continued growth.
With the capability to utilize a wide range of sustainable fuels, Solar will ensure that your data centers are powered by our resilient and reliable power generation package solutions.
In many data center Tier 1 locations like Dublin, Loudoun county, Tokyo, and London, the growth of data center construction has outpaced power generation and power transmission planning, resulting in a power deficit.
We offer sustainable, modular, continuous power rated and high-efficiency configurations that align with the phases of data center construction. Our microgrid or primary power plant provides maximum resiliency and efficiency throughout the entire data center construction process. Here are some benefits and features:
The data center industry is a significant purchaser of green electricity through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to minimize its impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Due to the unpredictable nature of variable renewable sources like wind and solar photovoltaic, and because of the temporal and geographical correlation of renewable electricity production and its consumption required by some hyperscales, it is necessary for Data center energy providers or the datacenter microgrid to store the generated renewable electricity for delivery or produce low/no-carbon electricity when needed.
While a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) investment can provide a storage solution, it may not be a practical option due to the amount of energy to be stored and its high cost.
A solution to this challenge is to leverage the fuel flexibility of gas turbine data centers. These data centers can use alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, biogas, biomethane, Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), Bio-Propane, or Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to deliver green electricity when variable renewables are unavailable. Such microgrid can also enhance the DC sustainability in the local community by being able to support the regional power utility grid with frequency restoration services, capacity services or deliver hot or chilled water to the neighborhood.
For data centers operating in hot climates, or for data centers wanting to offer high cooling capacity to their tenants, chilled water production with electrical chillers can significantly increase operating expenses (OPEX) and DC Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). To reduce cost and PUE, combined cooling and power plant (or cogeneration) to generate chilled water while producing electricity can be a cost-effective solution, particularly when the price differential between gas and electricity is substantial.
Scalable Combined Cooling and Power Solution includes:
Gas Turbines like our Centaur 40 are a reliable option for emergency back-up power generation in data centers.
Gas turbines present numerous advantages. These benefits include:
Learn how Solar was able to bridge the power utility gap for a large colocation data center while achieving low emissions, maintaining a grid-type cost of electricity, and providing a path to low carbon power.
Solar understands the operational requirements for increasing concentration of hydrogen in fuel and transportation gases and are continuously researching the use of other low carbon fuels.
