Corscale Data Centers announces partnership with Affinius

Author: Simon Rowley

Corscale Data Centers and Affinius Capital have announced a strategic partnership for hyperscaler development and a supply exclusivity agreement with e2Companies, a provider of integrated solutions for on-site power generation, distribution and energy cost-optimisation.

Under the strategic partnership, Corscale will become the exclusive hyperscale data centre developer to offer use of e2’s R3Di System (pronounced ‘Ready’) in the US, for an initial 24-month term. While there is no obligation for Corscale and Affinius to purchase a specific number of e2’s R3Di Systems, the strategic partnership is targeted to initially include the use of more than 300MW of e2 R3Di systems to fulfil the energy needs of part of the Corscale hyperscale data centre development project pipeline. Management of Corscale, Affinius and e2 believe there is a potential for considerably more collaboration after this initial deployment.

The R3Di is designed for data centres looking to achieve energy independence and match the volatile power demands of next-generation AI chips, and it will enable Corscale and Affinius to leverage future power capacity and future advancements of the Virtual Utility platform.

James Richmond, CEO of e2Companies, comments, “We are beyond excited about the prospect of partnering with Corscale and Affinius. They understand the technology required to power the AI-data centre boom over the next decade. Every industry is being revolutionised by next-gen AI capabilities. Our combined goal is to provide clean, reliable, and efficient energy to power this revolution.”

Corscale CEO, Robert Fields, adds, “Corscale is built to address hyperscale client needs and provide the mission critical infrastructure that their customers require to store, process, and analyse data. This potential partnership would bring e2’s on-site power generation, energy storage and grid optimisation technology to our clients, fulfilling our commitment to deliver creative solutions to meet the expected quality, efficiency, and reliability to achieve their goals.”

Len O’Donnell, Chairman & CEO for Affinius Capital, remarks, “For more than four decades, Affinius has embraced the implementation of new technologies that we believe will enhance outcomes for our investors. Innovation is one of our core values, presenting our intention to pioneer new concepts and improve upon current practices to pave the way to a more advanced and dynamic tomorrow. This belief is at the forefront of our investment in Corscale, and I can’t think of any area where innovative new technologies can have a greater impact than in data centre development.”

The Virtual Utility system addresses several challenges arising from the AI data centre boom and global electrification of economies. Costs and timelines to make the traditional electric grid capable of meeting growing demand are significant, with electric utility interconnections often taking five or more years to be completed, if completed at all. In this environment, localised microgrids, such as those enabled by e2’s systems, have emerged as turnkey solutions for delivering reliability and meeting the world’s growing electricity demand.

The patented R3Di System is a self-contained power platform installed without requiring an interconnection agreement or costly public utility upgrades. The R3Di provides clean and conditioned prime power, instantaneous full-load pickup and absorbs a much higher range of load profiles than traditional systems, including the throttling demands of next-gen AI chips, such as those from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.

Nic Bustamante, Chief Technology Officer at Corscale, comments, “e2 and Corscale plan to deploy the innovative R3Di technology in parallel with next generation hyperscale advancements. Through this novel stack, we expect that we would be able to independently power our data centres, while supporting sophisticated AI GPU servers and racks across our platform with sustainable, future proof infrastructure.

“Our ‘building as a machine’, AI factory approach, is intended to scale rack densities beyond one megawatt, yet be equally well suited to cloud workloads. This could be a true game changer with first of kind capabilities for real time utility power coordination, power quality shaping, and dynamic automation at multi-gigawatt scale.”

In addition, the R3Di works in combination with the Grove365, a centralised operations hub from e2 that delivers real-time monitoring, comprehensive data models, and predictive analysis for demand-side energy management. The Grove365 currently monitors 490 assets at 165 locations globally and has operated for a total of over 90 million grid monitoring hours.

Corscale Data Centers, along with Affinius Capital as its investment partner, launched the vertically integrated development platform for data centres in 2021 with a singular focus on the hyperscale client from day one. Corscale designs, builds, and operates sustainable, high-density data centres for some of the largest and most advanced technology companies in the world. The Virtual Utility solution will be available to Corscale’s hyperscale clients as its current $25 billion pipeline and future projects are developed.