ABB launches grid compliance solution for Irish data centres
Author: Joe Peck
ABB, a multinational corporation specialising in industrial automation and electrification products, has introduced a new energy storage and power management system designed to help data centres comply with emerging grid stability requirements in Ireland.
The system combines ultracapacitor energy storage with real-time power orchestration to enable large energy users to respond to grid disturbances within milliseconds, without requiring major changes to existing electrical infrastructure.
The announcement comes as Ireland prepares to introduce new grid requirements under EirGrid’s proposed MPID345 grid code modification, which will require large-demand facilities, including data centres, to remain connected during grid faults and rapidly restore power demand following network disturbances.
ABB has also published a whitepaper, Ireland’s Data Centers – Moving from Passive Consumption to Active Participation in Grid Stabilization, outlining how the technology could support compliance with the new regulations.
Addressing new grid stability requirements
According to ABB, the solution integrates ultrafast energy storage, grid-forming power conversion, and digital control systems to help support grid frequency and voltage stability whilst also maintaining data centre operations.
The company says the approach differs from conventional backup systems, which are primarily designed to isolate facilities from grid events rather than actively supporting the electricity network.
Ireland’s data centres currently account for around 24% of the country’s electricity consumption, with that figure expected to increase to 30% by 2032. Under Ireland’s Large Energy-User Action Plan (LEAP), new large-scale facilities are expected to provide on-site or nearby generation and/or energy storage, participate in electricity markets, and source at least 80% of their annual energy from new renewable energy projects.
Lee Todd, Vice President, Energy & Carbon Services, Electrification Service at ABB, explains, “This is a radical change in what the national grid demands of Ireland’s data centre operators.
“When large loads shed simultaneously during a disturbance, the resulting power imbalance can drive frequency excursions that cascade across the entire grid. That is why the country’s data centre operators will be required to provide grid support. And while Ireland is leading the way, other countries such as Spain and US State of Texas are set to follow.
“The path forward is not more backup capacity, but precise, coordinated control of power delivered at the exact moment it is needed. We are using ultracapacitors as a unique innovative solution that replaces the need to use the larger alternative technologies of synchronous condensers, e-statcoms, or a combination of different technologies.
“The primary purpose of the solution is to provide not only grid inertia and grid voltage control that can be controlled on demand, but [to] support all the available services that energy storage can provide, lowering CapEx investment and OpEx.”
ABB says a representative 50MW data centre deployment would use five modular 8.4MVA power blocks, providing around 42MVA of dynamic grid support capability.
For more from ABB, click here.
