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Milestone for Yondr Group’s Frankfurt data centre

Yondr Group, a global developer, owner and operator of hyperscale data centres, has handed over the first 20MW of its 40MW project in Bischofsheim, just south of Frankfurt, Germany. The milestone, achieved in just 20 months, represents the completion of the first two ready-for-service (RFS) phases in Yondr’s planned four-phase schedule for its Bischofsheim data centre. It is Yondr’s second successful handover in Europe this year, following RFS for the first building at the company’s 100MW+ London campus in July. The Bischofsheim facility is also part of Yondr’s rapidly growing global data centre portfolio, with projects currently on site in EMEA, APAC and North America. Designed and constructed to industry-leading sustainability standards, the Bischofsheim data centre is aiming for LEED Gold certification. It will also comply with the German Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG), which stipulates that data centres in Germany use renewable energy for 50% of the asset’s electricity consumption, rising to 100% renewables from 1 January 2027. To help align the data centre with Yondr’s sustainability goals and net carbon zero targets, the building has a solar PV installation on the roof, along with a green wall. The asset also has electric vehicle charging points. The Bischofsheim project is strategically located in one of Europe’s most important data industry hubs, which Yondr says demonstrates the company's expertise in identifying, procuring and developing sites in the world’s most sought-after data centre locations. Part of the FLAP market, the Frankfurt data centre hub is central to meeting Germany’s data demand, alongside Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich, and accounts for around 65% of Germany's upcoming data centre capacity. The new 40MW Bischofsheim data centre being delivered by Yondr will help to meet growing demand for capacity in a location that is both Germany's financial capital and a major technology hub. Peter Hill, VP Design & Construction EMEA at Yondr, comments, “Germany is a very dynamic market, with 1.2GW of capacity fully built, and a number of projects set to add to that capacity over the next couple of years, including our Bischofsheim facility. “This data centre has been built to provide exceptional resilience, while also delivering on our client’s goals for sustainability and operational efficiency. Achieving our first RFS milestone in Frankfurt adds to a busy year for Yondr, with more on the horizon.” Ailish McDonnell, Development Director, adds, “We are proud to contribute to Frankfurt’s reputation as a critical location in the FLAP market. This data centre reflects our desire to expand and invest further in the German market. Yondr is excited to continue partnering with local stakeholders to drive innovation and deliver cutting edge, sustainable data centres that meet the country’s evolving needs.” For more from Yondr Group, click here.

AWS announces new data centre components

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced new data centre components designed to support the next generation of artificial intelligence innovation and customers’ evolving needs. These capabilities combine innovations in power, cooling, and hardware design to create a more energy efficient data centre that will underpin further customer innovation. These new capabilities will be implemented globally in AWS’s new data centres, and many components are already deployed in its existing data centres. “AWS continues to relentlessly innovate its infrastructure to build the most performant, resilient, secure, and sustainable cloud for customers worldwide,” says Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “These data centre capabilities represent an important step forward with increased energy efficiency and flexible support for emerging workloads. But what is even more exciting is that they are designed to be modular, so that we are able to retrofit our existing infrastructure for liquid cooling and energy efficiency to power generative AI applications and lower our carbon footprint.” AWS has been building large-scale data centres for 18 years and GPU-based servers for AI workloads for 13 years. Today, AWS’s data centres support millions of active customers worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of customers using AWS AI and machine learning services, and tens of thousands of global customers using Amazon Bedrock to build their generative AI applications. As use of generative AI continues to grow and GPU capacity demands increase, AWS data centres are adapting to support increasingly higher power densities. Key improvements include: 1. Simplified electrical and mechanical design for high availability AWS continuously focuses on offering customers the most reliable infrastructure. Simplified electrical and mechanical designs are more reliable and easier to maintain, ensuring that customers enjoy the benefits of high reliability that AWS has offered from the beginning. AWS’s latest data centre design improvements include simplified electrical distribution and mechanical systems, which enable infrastructure availability of 99.9999%. The simplified systems also reduce the potential number of racks that can be impacted by electrical issues by 89%. In a data centre, electricity goes through multiple conversion and distribution systems before reaching the IT equipment. Each step naturally introduces inefficiency, energy loss, and potential failure points. As one new design example, AWS simplified the electrical distribution and in doing so, reduced the number of potential failure points by 20%. Other examples of simplifications include bringing backup power closer to the rack and reducing the number of fans that are used to exhaust hot air. AWS is using the natural pressure differential to exhaust hot air, which improves the amount of electricity available for servers. All of these changes help reduce overall energy consumption while minimising the risk of failures. 2. Innovations in cooling, rack design, and control systems AWS has built a number of new and enhanced capabilities to offer customers the most performant, highly available, and energy efficient infrastructure possible. New data centre innovations include: Liquid cooling: Newer AI servers benefit from liquid cooling to more efficiently cool high density compute chips. AWS has developed novel mechanical cooling solutions providing configurable liquid-to-chip cooling in both its new and existing data centres. Some AWS technologies utilise network and storage infrastructure that does not require liquid cooling, so updated cooling systems will seamlessly integrate air and liquid cooling capabilities for the most powerful AI chipsets, like AWS Trainium2 and rack-scale AI supercomputing solutions like NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 - as well as AWS’s network switches and storage servers. This flexible, multimodal cooling design allows AWS to provide maximum performance and efficiency at the lowest cost, whether running traditional workloads or AI models. The unique liquid cooling rack design was developed in collaboration with leading chip manufacturers to accelerate time to market for AI workloads.   Support for high-density AI workloads: AWS is maximising how power is used by optimising how it positions racks in a data centre. This was achieved through software, powered by data and generative AI, that predicts the most efficient way to land servers. AWS will now reduce the amount of stranded power – energy that is available but unused or underutilised – and make more efficient use of the energy available.   This design will support the next generation of hardware and high-density racks required for AI workloads, but is flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of other hardware types. AWS infrastructure offers the broadest and deepest compute platform with more than 750 Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (Amazon EC2) instances, giving customers the choice of the latest processor, storage, networking, operating system, and purchase model for any workload. In addition to the flexible multimodal cooling design, AWS has developed engineering innovations in its power delivery systems, which enable AWS to support a six-times increase in rack power density over the next two years, and another three-times increase in the future. This is delivered in part by a new power shelf, which efficiently delivers data centre power throughout the rack, reducing electrical conversion losses. Taken together, these innovations enable AWS to deliver 12% more compute power per site for customer workloads. These changes will reduce the overall number of data centres needed to deliver the same amount of compute capacity. Updated control systems: The rollout of an Amazon-owned control system across AWS’s electrical and mechanical devices provides the ability to standardise monitoring, alarming, and operational sequences. For example, AWS’s internally built telemetry tools use AWS technologies to provide real-time diagnostics and troubleshooting services, both of which enable AWS to maintain optimal operating conditions on behalf of customers. In addition, AWS has increased the redundancy in its controls systems, while reducing complexity. These benefits result in AWS designing for infrastructure availability of 99.9999%.   3. Increased energy efficiency and sustainability, including 46% reduction in mechanical energy consumption and 35% reduction in embodied carbon in the concrete used For many years, AWS has been a pioneer in improving energy efficiency and sustainability across its infrastructure. Research estimates AWS’s infrastructure is currently up to 4.1 times more efficient than on-premises infrastructure, and when workloads are optimised on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%. In 2023, Amazon achieved its goal to match all of the electricity consumed by its operations with 100% renewable energy – seven years ahead of its 2030 goal. AWS continuously reevaluates how its data centres operate and determines ways to help its infrastructure use energy more efficiently through ongoing innovation. The new components include the following upgrades for energy efficiency and sustainability: • A more efficient cooling system that is expected to reduce mechanical energy consumption by up to 46% compared to its previous design during peak cooling conditions, without increasing water usage on a per-megawatt basis. Design changes include a new single-sided cooling system, reduction in cooling equipment, and introduction of liquid cooling capabilities. • Reduction of embodied carbon in the concrete of the data centre building shell by up to 35%, compared to industry average. AWS is adopting specifications for lower-carbon steel and concrete, and optimising the structural design to use less steel overall. • Backup generators will be able to run on renewable diesel, a biodegradable and non-toxic fuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% over the fuel’s lifecycle when compared to fossil diesel. AWS has already started transitioning to renewable diesel to power backup generators at existing data centres in Europe and in America. For more from AWS, click here.

Keepit recognised for its green data centres

Keepit, a global provider of a comprehensive cloud backup and recovery platform, has been awarded 'Best Green Initiative' by the Business Awards UK, 2024 Corporate Sustainability Awards. Keepit’s data centres in the Americas and EMEA have been powered by 100% renewable energy since 2023. "Keepit prides itself in having built its whole operation efficiently, with sustainability in mind. Providing our customers with the ability to secure their data on our platform, knowing we’re also doing our part to reduce environmental impact, is important to us as a company”, says Michele Hayes, CMO at Keepit. Since 2023, all Keepit’s data centres in the Americas and EMEA have been powered by 100% renewable energy. Keepit reached this important green energy milestone ahead of other cloud-based backup vendors. Keepit constructed its technology stack from the ground up, specifically designing it to efficiently address data storage challenges. This approach reflects a commitment to optimising resource utilisation and delivering a service that is not only effective but also resource efficient. Keepit platform was also named Best Cybersecurity Backup Service by Business Awards UK, 2024 Cybersecurity and Resilience Awards. Keepit is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices in the US, Germany, and the UK. Among its UK customers are The National Gallery and Oxford University Innovation. For more from Keepit, click here.

atNorth joins Danish Data Center Industry Association

atNorth, a Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence service provider, has announced that it is joining the Danish Data Center Association (DDI) as part of its continued investment into the country’s data centre industry. The business recently announced the development of its second site in Denmark, DEN02 and its first site, DEN01, is due to be operational by Q2 2025. atNorth has also recently announced the appointment of Jeff Kjeldsen as Operations Director for Denmark as it aims to deliver large-scale infrastructure operations that demonstrate leading technologies and adhere to stringent industry standards. The DDI aims to create stakeholder opportunities by promoting sustainability, best practice operations and cross sector collaborations. These are factors that are a core part of atNorth’s business ethos, and the business is proud to help shape a thriving future for the country. “The Danish Data Center Industry is expanding rapidly, but it is important that we evolve in a sustainable way”, says Henrik Hansen, CEO at the Danish Data Center Industry. “We welcome Nordic data centre leader, atNorth, as a member of our organisation and hope we can capitalise on a shared ethos of technical excellence and environmental protection”. “We are proud to join the Danish Data Center Industry Association”, adds Jeff Kjeldsen, Operations Director for Denmark at aNorth. “Denmark, alongside its Nordic neighbours, boasts ideal conditions for data centre development. The country’s beneficial climate, excellent connectivity and an abundance of renewable energy has fuelled the rapid expansion of the industry, and we are delighted to help guide the process to ensure sustainability and best practice excellence”. For more from atNorth, click here.

Digital Realty data centre becomes home to SuperComputer

Sesterce, a company helping to shape the future of artificial intelligence with high-performance GPU SuperComputers, today announced the launch of a new SuperComputer featuring NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs hosted in Digital Realty's data centre in Marseille, France. The state-of-the-art SuperComputer helps to tackle the growing demand for powerful cloud GPU solutions and offers a decarbonised AI as service to Sesterce’s customers. The cluster is equipped with NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs interconnected through InfiniBand technology. These cards provide excellent scalability and performance, contributing to optimal energy efficiency for AI. With this SuperComputer, Sesterce empowers clients to develop highly scalable AI projects with optimal performance and sustainability, providing flexibility for AI projects of any size.The use of AI has been democratised, resulting in demand for storage capacity and computing power continuing to rise. In 2023, France had over 600 start-ups dedicated to AI in the country - a 24% increase since 2021 - and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. However, this exceptional growth parallels a significant rise in energy consumption, raising environmental concerns. Youssef El Manssouri, CEO of Sesterce, comments, "Actors in the field have a role to play. Those that share the same values should work together to offer more environmentally responsible computing power." This breakthrough was made possible through collective efforts. The cluster will benefit directly from Digital Realty's ongoing programme dedicated to minimising the environmental impact of its data centres. These actions include enhancing energy efficiency and procuring renewable energy with a strong focus on locally sourced renewables, ensuring that its entire European portfolio continues to be matched with 100% renewable energy. Additionally, Digital Realty is committed to achieving carbon neutrality across its European data centre portfolio by 2030, alongside a 68% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions globally (against a 2018 baseline), and a 24% reduction in Scope 3 emissions globally within the same timeframe. Youssef adds, "This cluster relies on the synergy of skills, with each party bringing the best of their expertise to create and offer an intensive-ready cluster." This cluster marks a turning point in the field, the companies believe, demonstrating a successful marriage between technical innovation and sustainability. For more from Digital Realty, click here.

STULZ Modular configures data centre at University of Göttingen

STULZ Modular, a provider of modular data centre solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of STULZ, has announced the completion of an installation at the University of Göttingen in Germany for the Emmy supercomputer, which employs an innovative combination of direct to chip liquid and air cooling. One of the top 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world, Emmy is named after renowned German mathematician, Emmy Noether, who was described by Albert Einstein as one of the most important women in the field of mathematics. The University of Göttingen needed a new data centre to house Emmy, as the existing facilities could not provide the required space and cooling infrastructure. It needed to be a modular construction with a 1.5MW total capacity that could accommodate further expansion, with the deployment of a cooling system that could remove heat density of up to 100kW per rack. Emmy’s power consumption was also a factor, so the implemented solution needed to address this by being as energy efficient and sustainable as possible. "We were given less than two months to design and install a two room modular data centre with a cooling infrastructure, which would be installed on a ground slab and connected to the on-site transformer station," explains Dushy Goonawardhane, Managing Director at STULZ Modular. "Our solution comprises four prefabricated modules – two larger modules cover an area of 85m² and are joined along the spine to accommodate the direct to chip liquid cooled supercomputer. Two smaller modules are also joined along the spine to accommodate air cooled IT equipment in 70m² of space." The entire data centre comprises high performance computers, 1,120kW direct to chip liquid cooled systems with approximately 20% residual heat, high-density racks and STULZ CyberAir and STULZ CyberRow precision air conditioning unit with free cooling. With 96kW per full rack and 11 racks currently in-situ, there is available capacity for up to 14 racks in total. STULZ Modular worked with CoolIT Systems which specialises in scalable liquid cooling solutions for the world’s most demanding computing environments, to incorporate direct to chip liquid cooling to Emmy’s microprocessors. Comprising two liquid loops, the secondary loop provides a flow of cooling fluid from the cooling distribution unit (CDU) to the distribution manifolds and into the servers, where heat is transferred through cold plates into the coolant. The secondary fluid then flows into the heat exchanger in the CDU, where it transfers heat into the primary loop and the absorbed heat energy is carried to a dry cooler and rejected. The direct to chip liquid cooled system removes 78% (74.9kW) of the server heat load. A water-cooled STULZ CyberRow (with free cooling option) air cooling unit removes the remaining 22% (21.1kW) of the heat load produced by components within the server. The CyberRow’s return air temperature is specified at approximately 48°C, supply air temperature at 27-35°C and water temperature at 32-36°C. The University of Göttingen is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint and overall energy consumption across its campus. The STULZ modular data centre provides 27% electricity savings at an average 75% load, equating to 3.96GWh per year. Furthermore, compared to a standard air-cooled data centre with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.56 – the current industry average according to the Uptime Institute – the hybrid direct to chip liquid and air-cooling system provides an overall annual facility PUE of 1.13, with a 1.07 PUE for the liquid cooled supercomputer room alone. STULZ Modular’s Dushy Goonawardhane concludes, "This installation demonstrates our commitment to pushing the boundaries of data centre cooling technology. By combining direct-to-chip liquid cooling with our advanced air-cooling systems, we've created a solution that not only meets the extreme demands of supercomputing but also aligns with the University of Göttingen's sustainability goals. We are excited to share the complexity and learnings from this project in a white paper we have produced in cooperation with the University of Göttingen. For more from STULZ, click here.

Nationwide migrates IT estate to HPE GreenLake cloud

Hewlett Packard Enterprise today announced that Nationwide Building Society has selected HPE GreenLake cloud for its private cloud deployment, enabling it to accelerate its hybrid cloud journey. With the addition of HPE GreenLake Management Services as a strategic cloud services provider, Nationwide is now using the power of cloud technology to support the evolving needs of its customers. In 2018, Nationwide kick-started an ambitious journey to ensure it was primed for the next generation of digital innovation, with its hybrid cloud strategy being driven by the need for different cloud environments for various types of data and workloads. Leveraging the comprehensive capabilities of HPE GreenLake, Nationwide is creating an agile, scalable, secure, resilient, and efficient technology platform. “In today’s world our customers expect us to deliver an always-on service whilst providing new, innovative features that help them better manage their finances,” says Paul Walsh, Director of Infrastructure & Service Delivery, at Nationwide Building Society. “Nationwide’s hybrid cloud strategy is vital to our ability to compete and means we can continue to meet the needs and expectations of our customers. HPE GreenLake cloud is a core component of our hybrid cloud strategy. With them we’re building a cloud platform that will further improve our resilience and agility, enabling us to provide even better levels of service and deliver new capabilities to our developers faster than ever before.” With HPE GreenLake Management Services, Nationwide’s IT team will automate and orchestrate infrastructure management and deliver infrastructure as code. This enables them to focus on innovation, value-add activities and gain better control over application builds and security. Faster release cycles will accelerate the time to market, providing consistent customer experiences across all digital platforms. At the same time, Nationwide can ensure that sufficient controls are in place to manage risk, protect their customers and meet the demands of regulators, while unlocking the value of cloud technology. Nationwide’s hybrid cloud strategy fully embraces cloud economics, enabling efficient monitoring and management of consumption. HPE GreenLake's consumption-based model prevents overprovisioning and allows Nationwide to only pay for capacity that it is using. This is expected to support Nationwide in reducing its IT cost base by at least 30%. Furthermore, a dedicated service within HPE GreenLake cloud gives the building society a clear overview of their energy consumption and emissions, enabling Nationwide to manage its infrastructure more efficiently and reduce the environmental impact. The impact will be further reduced by upcycling and recycling of decommissioned assets, such as the end-of-use compute and storage infrastructure that GreenLake has replaced. “We are proud to support Nationwide with their cloud vision, providing them with enhanced control and security and the reliability and flexibility for growth,” says Matt Harris, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa at HPE. “Nationwide’s modernisation journey showcases the effectiveness of HPE GreenLake cloud, with the storied institution transitioning from complex, legacy technology to a modern, future-proofed hybrid cloud operating model, where a one-size-fits all public cloud could never be the only answer." For more from HPE, click here.

Lennox launches new business to support data centre industry

Lennox, a provider of energy-efficient climate control solutions, is launching a new business to address the specific cooling challenges of the data centre industry. Lennox Data Centre Solutions is a standalone business that will provide innovative, sustainable cooling solutions and services directly to the data centre market across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The global data centre market looks set to grow at around 9.1% CAGR through to 2030. In Europe alone, market studies estimate the current data centre capacity at 12,23GW, expanding at a rate of 600-700 facilities a year. The heat generated by these new data centres will require efficient and effective processing, be that through heat rejection, heat reuse or a combination of the two. Today’s demanding energy and performance standards require heat rejection products that offer precision, efficiency and reliability.A natural extension of its existing expertise, Lennox Data Centre Solutions intends to bring Lennox's high level of product and service excellence to customers in the data centre market. “Our experience has led us to a position where we understand that data centre solutions, especially for cooling processes, are bespoke from project to project,” says Matt Evans, CEO of Lennox Data Centre Solutions. “Backed by renewed investment and focus, the business will lead with an engineering consultancy approach to the design of data centre heat-rejection solutions. We aim to treat every project on individual merit, working closely with customers to create the optimal solution based on our full end-to-end product suite.” Lennox Data Centre Solutions has deep knowledge in data centre design and build excellence. This arrives courtesy of its existing experience in this sector as part of Lennox, bolstered by a number of strategic new recruits with proven expertise in data centre cooling solutions. The ability to tap into the comprehensive resources of Lennox EMEA is significant. With manufacturing facilities in Lyon and Dijon in France, Burgos in Spain, and fully certified Eurovent test facilities to match, each plant features advanced production capabilities staffed by highly skilled professionals to ensure quality and reliability. Lennox Data Centre Solutions is offering a full portfolio of cooling solutions for data centres. Adapting some products from the existing Lennox portfolio, others have been designed and manufactured from the ground up. The range spans close control units (CCU’s), computer room air handler (CRAH) units, fan wall units (FWU), cooling distribution units (CDUs), chillers, and both adiabatic and conventional dry coolers.With the new business, Lennox can call upon a team of over 100 in-house technical engineers supporting product commissioning, service and maintenance across Europe alone. With the largest team of its type in the region, data centres can expect seamless integration, installation and support for their bespoke projects. Ultimately, the goal is to become the preferred partner for enterprise, colocation and hyperscale data centre operators seeking efficient, effective and sustainable data centre cooling solutions. This ambition aligns with Lennox’s long-standing commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and efficiency. Lennox Data Centre Solutions is backing its expectations for rapid growth with an aggressive recruitment campaign that will further build the EMEA team over coming months. Alongside its direct support for data centres, the new business will also look to provide support through an exclusive partner network of consultants and system integrators.

NVC Lighting to launch new products at DataCentres Ireland

Visitors to this year’s DataCentres Ireland exhibition can learn how NVC Lighting’s new products, designed specifically for the sector, can contribute to increased energy efficiency and cost savings. The ‘around the clock’ operational nature of data centres means that dependable lighting has long been a crucial component in allowing for optimum performance. Now, with the global focus on sustainability and energy saving, NVC Lighting will be launching its BROADWAY range, which utilises LED lighting technology to offer data centre buildings a more efficient solution than ever before, to the European market. Visitors to the two-day exhibition and conference, being held from 20-21 November at the RDS in Dublin, can speak with the NVC Lighting team at Stand 237, who will be showcasing the new BROADWAY products and a range of regular fittings, as well as examples of its work to support data centres. High-quality lighting enhances visibility, reduces the risk of accidents, and supports efficient maintenance operations. The BROADWAY range is specifically designed to offer energy-efficient, low-glare solutions that ensure a safe and productive data centre environment. The NVC Lighting team, which supports clients in a range of sectors across the UK, have focused on optimising its high performance, energy efficient products to contribute to the need for Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) reduction. Phil Brown, Product & Marketing Director at NVC Lighting, says, “We’re excited to launch the optimised BROADWAY range at DataCentres Ireland – these are products which can have a major impact on energy efficiency across the sector, with a relatively low outlay compared to major investments elsewhere. “Working with an efficient and effective LED lighting can lead to significant cost savings in a shorter period of time – over the longer term, their lifespan ensures that it’s an investment which stands the test of time. “This investment not only reduces operating costs but also contributes to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly data centre.” For more from DataCentres Ireland, click here.

Finning to address sustainability challenges at DataCentres Ireland

Finning UK & Ireland, a dealer of Cat equipment and power solutions, will address sustainability challenges at the upcoming DataCentres Ireland event, leading discussions on sustainable power solutions for the data centre industry. The event will take place on 20-21 at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Dublin, Ireland. Graham Scandrett, Electric Power Head of Projects Sales at Finning UK & Ireland, will participate in a panel discussion titled ‘Onsite standby generation - how to be sustainable’ to explore how renewable energy sources can be integrated as efficiently and pragmatically as possible. With over two decades of experience in the electric power industry, Graham is set to bring valuable insights to the conversation. At the event, Finning will be on hand to discuss its expertise in power solutions at stand 522, as well as discuss the latest Cat power generation technologies designed to meet the evolving needs of data centres. These include the Cat 3516E high transient standby generator set (genset), delivering 2.8MW from a compact footprint, and the Cat G3520K genset which offers flexible fuel options including natural gas and biogas. The panel discussion will explore the complexities of power generation for data centres, addressing key industry challenges such as the integration of renewable energy sources, balancing energy security with sustainability objectives and meeting stringent emissions regulations while maintaining operational efficiency. Graham explains, “Data centres are currently balancing their energy requirements with the necessity for sustainable and reliable power solutions. If you want to reduce carbon intensity, data centres need an energy mix including sustainable energy which, by virtue, is not dispatchable. This is where we can step in to provide sustainable solutions and support. “We know the national grid consists of an energy mix with objectives to further increase the percentage of that mix from renewable sources. At the same time, consumers are requesting more and larger grid connections to keep pace with sustainability and growth plans. When it comes to grid connections, there are many factors involved. In an environment where energy from renewables is not a constant of time, a user’s ability to take a flexible grid connection to reduce demand on the grid at peak times can be a key factor. “At Finning, we are right in the middle of addressing industry complexities like these. For example, if you have a flexible connection and requested to come offline, we can work with clients to offer on-site energy – from a range of fuel sources including liquid fuel gensets – which can operate on lower carbon intense HVO, as well as hydrogen-ready gas gensets. “Liquid fuel in particular is an ideal fuel because – under and within the footprint of a generator enclosure – you’ve got a fuel tank providing roughly 48 hours of fuel, meaning you’ve got this amount of energy security on site. Liquid fuels – by virtue of their chemical makeup – have a high energy density. As such, compared to other fuel types, 48 hours of on-site storage is practical, which in my opinion means that liquid fuels will be part of the energy mix for at least the near to medium term. I’ll be talking about solutions like liquid fuel as part of my panel discussion and can’t wait to help our customers and attendees alike navigate some of the challenges faced by data centres today.” Attendees are invited to visit the Finning stand and attend the panel discussion to learn more about achieving sustainable power solutions in the data centre industry. The session will take place on 21 November at 11.40am. Visitors to the Finning stand can expect to engage with experts on topics such as strategies for integrating renewable energy with reliable backup power, the role of sustainable fuels in data centre power generation, and the latest solutions in power system efficiency and emissions reduction. For more from Finning, click here.