Powering Data Centers

Energy capacity is increasingly constrained across big European cities like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Dublin and London, where there is significant grid congestion.

Competition for capacity is fast outpacing the traditional networks’ ability to develop and invest in their networks. The need for reliable, affordable and low carbon energy sources are key drivers for data center operators to invest in alternative means of securing electricity. Data centers above all else require highly reliable and redundancy proof supplies, whilst also coming under increasing pressure to facilitate low carbon solutions, and solutions that do not divert much needed capacity from other developments like housing.

The vast majority of large organisations, especially in the tech sector, now also have ambitious decarbonisation goals. This is an important aspect of ESG policy, public perception and access to finance, compliance with regulatory/environmental measures and resilience against volatile energy commodity prices.

The main ways organisations look to decarbonise is by sourcing power and heat from low carbon sources, energy efficiency measures and/or (as a last resort) trading carbon credits. However, not all of these solutions will be viable for data centers, given the paramount need to ensure security of supply – a data center cannot only operate while the wind is blowing.