LCL Data Centers to use biofuel for standby power

Author: Isha Jain

Caterpillar has announced that LCL Data Centers has commissioned a new 13.5MVA standby power solution at its Brussels-West data centre in Aalst that operates exclusively on 100% hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel. It is the first data centre in the nation to use biofuels for standby power operation.

Facility planners for the company leveraged the expertise of engineering experts from Eneria to design, install, test and commission the solution, which consists of six Cat 3516B diesel generator sets.

“With our deep roots in Belgium, we are committed to supporting environmentally responsible initiatives that create a better world,” says Laurens van Reijen, Managing Director, LCL. “Our collaboration with Eneria and Caterpillar has demonstrated the viability of HVO100 in our standby power systems. We’re strongly committed to becoming carbon neutral by the end of this decade, and we’ve launched numerous initiatives across our operations to help us achieve this goal.”

Eneria will also provide ongoing maintenance and service under a Cat Customer Value Agreement (CVA). Through fully customisable CVAs, Cat dealers assume responsibility for the onsite maintenance and service of power solutions, enabling customers to focus on running their enterprises.

“We were delighted to receive the request from the data centre specialist, LCL to ensure its emergency power generators operate on HVO100, a renewable diesel fuel. We tested the operation of Cat generator sets with traditional diesel, HVO100, and a blend of these fuels. We concluded that the power and reactivity performance of the generators remained the same regardless of the fuel used,” says Tim Bisson, Director of Eneria Belux.

Propelled by the success of the project in Aalst, LCL plans to convert the standby power solutions at all its data centres to operate on HVO over the next two years.

The standby system was installed as part of a €15.5m expansion that tripled its footprint in Aalst while achieving the Uptime Institute’s Tier III certifications for design and construction.