Mission Critical Power

missioncriticalpower.uk

ISSUE 4: April 2016

10 Zero sum: Could super-conductivity make the internet sustainable?

14UPS and downs: Should you pay heed to the Energy Technology List?

20 Smarter grid: Battery assets stand to gain from government push

See cover story, page 12

www.enersys.com/XE

piller.com

Piller Group If any problems arise concerning this document, please contact Oyster Studios on +44 (0)1582 761212.Publication: Mission Critical Power

Insert Date: April 2016

Copy Date: 23-03-16

Ad Size: 297x210mm

Booking Ref: Piller

Job Number: 4328

File Name: CPM_MCP_297x210_23-03-16

Last Updated: 22-03-16

Proof Stage: 1

Approved by:

ROTARY UPS SYSTEMS / HYBRID ROTARY UPS SYSTEMS / DIESEL ROTARY UPS SYSTEMS / STATIC UPS SYSTEMS / STATIC TRANSFER SWITCHES KINETIC ENERGY STORAGE / AIRCRAFT GROUND POWER SYSTEMS / FREQUENCY CONVERTERS / NAVAL POWER SUPPLIES / SYSTEM INTEGRATION

HEADQUARTERS: PILLER GROUP GmbHPiller France / Piller Germany / Piller Iberica / Piller Italy / Piller UK / Piller Brazil / Piller Canada / Piller USA / Piller Australia / Piller China

Piller India / Piller Korea / Piller Singapore / Piller Taiwan

Nothing protects quite like Piller

Introducing a whole new concept in power protection game changing UPS topology optimised for colocation data centres. Unique functionality combining proven technologies with a space-saving design to increase revenue flows. When everything rides on reputation, you need to know that your power and your data is reliably protected.

SEE U

S AT:

Data C

entre W

orld,

12-13

April 2

016, Lo

ndon.

Stand

L40.

IN THIS ISSUE 3

missioncriticalpower.uk April 2016 MCP

Cover StoryEnerSys introduces DataSafe

XE batteries power for modern critical UPS applications


ISSUE 4: April 2016

10 Zero sum: Could super-conductivity make the internet sustainable?

14UPS and downs: Should you pay heed to the Energy Technology List?

20 Smarter grid: Battery assets stand to gain from government push

See cover story, page 12

www.enersys.com/XE

InsightExponential data growth

means vast swathes of computation will

relocate to the edge, according to its disciples

Energy ManagementCan and should data centres be powered by solar energy?

Energy StorageThe National Infrastructure Commission has recommended building a smarter grid without delay. For those with lots of batteries, that could be lucrative.

Energy Management

Is selecting a UPS from the governments Energy

Technology List always a good buy?

Viewpoint Could superconductivity make

the internet sustainable, asks Professor Ian Bitterlin

14

16

12

208

Cooling & Air MovementCooling Tier IV data centres and achieving energy eff iciency - even at partial loads

10

40

To subscribe please contact: missioncriticalpower.uk/subscribe

Comment 4

News 6

Insight 8

Energy Management 14

Infrastructure Management 22

Asset Resilience 24

UPS 28

Standby Generators 32

Connectivity & Cabling 38

Cooling & Air Movement 40

Data Centre World 2016 44

Products 48

Q&A 50

COMMENT4


EditorTim [email protected]: 020 3714 4450m: 07818 545308

Contributing editorBrendan [email protected]: 0203 751 7863 m: 07557 109476

Advertising managerHarry [email protected]: 020 3771 1267m: 07557 109746

Sales directorSteve [email protected]: 020 3714 4451m: 07818 574300

ProductionPaul [email protected]: 07790 434813

Circulation [email protected]

Energyst Media Ltd, PO BOX 420, Reigate, Surrey RH2 2DU

Registered in England & Wales 8667229Registered at Stationers Hall ISSN 0964 8321Printed by Warners Midlands PLC

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers.Mission Critical Power is a controlled circulation magazine available to selected professionals interested in energy, who fall within the publishers terms of control. For those outside of these terms, annual subscriptions is 60 including postage in the UK. For all subscriptions outside the UK the annual subscription is 120 including postage.

Follow us for up-to-date news and information:

MCP April 2016

Mission critical sites have many things to worry about, particularly resilience and energy use. However, one that is moving up the agenda is water use. While Scotland already has competition, England will follow in April 2017 and there are things that you can do now so that you are prepared.

Saving water makes good business sense; if you pay for something then using less is one sure way to increase profitability. The other reason to save water is resource efficiency. Unlike the problems that exist in the energy market water is slightly different in that it cannot be created. London is drier than Istanbul, and the south east of England has less water available per capita than the Sudan, so it is important to conserve this essential resource. As Benjamin Franklin said: When the well is dry, we know the worth of water. Understanding the worth of water now before its intrinsic value is forced upon us is essential.

Efficiency will reduce water bills quickest but another method to look at after this is water reuse. Much of the water we use for heating, cooling, process applications, washing and sanitation neednt be of drinking water quality. This could be reused water or grey water. The effect of this would be to reduce water costs further, allow more potable water to be available for drinking and food preparation purposes and it also reduces the strain on the drainage system that can be caused by excess rainfall.

The Department of Healths Water management and water efficiency best practice advice for the healthcare sector says: Financial savings of up to 20% may be achieved through water-efficiency measures, with little or no cost in investment. This translates to a possible saving of 9.5m per year for the NHS. No small amount for little or no outlay.

Water reuse was targeted at East Kent and Canterbury Trust. It produced a significant amount of wastewater in the hospitals reverse osmosis plant. The project installed holding tanks and pipework that allowed the wastewater to be reused for urinal and WC flushing in the main operating theatres and the emergency care department, topped up with mains water when needed. The project reduced mains water consumption by 33%, saving 7,000 a year. This allowed project costs to be recovered in less than three years.

Data centres are also big consumers of water and similar to the PUE (power usage effectiveness) WUE (water usage effectiveness) has been developed. There is a lot of uncertainty and variability around the different processes using water in data centres, but their combined water footprint can be as high as 200 litres per gigabyte of outbound data. This means it can take the same amount of water to get a GB of data to you as it takes to deliver a kg of tomatoes, states says Bora Ristic, in the The Water Footprint of Data Centers, published in the journal Sustainability.

With the advent of competition it may be time to focus a little on water use and how it can be reduced. An advantage of this is that those who know their water profile will also be able to negotiate a better deal when competition does arrive.

Water you going to do?

using water in data centres, but their combined water footprint can be as high as 200 litres per gigabyte of outbound data. This means it can take the same amount of water to get a GB of data to you as it takes to deliver a kg of tomatoes, states says Bora

The Water Footprint , published in

Sustainability.

With the advent of competition it may be time to focus a little

NEWS & COMMENT6

missioncriticalpower.ukMCP April 2016

Organisations with diesel back-up generators have been warned that changes the government is making to energy market policies could add significant costs to their operations.

Decc has outlined sweeping changes to the capacity market, the mechanism intended to ensure the UK has sufficient power over winter peaks.

Significantly, Decc also flagged plans to change the distribution charging regime for embedded generators, which industry experts have warned could have serious consequences for UK industry.

Decc wants to buy more power earlier, and will bring the start date for the mechanism forward a year. Capacity providers both power stations and demand response units will now start delivering power if needed from winter 2017/18.

Decc wants to incentivise the building of new gas plant, which the capacity market in its current form has failed to do. What it has rewarded are rafts of small-scale diesel generators. The effect of those diesel farms is to undercut new gas power stations.

So Decc intends to make life harder for diesel generators via tougher emissions legislation

Grid tenders for superfast responseNational Grid will invite tenders for its new superfast frequency response service on 15 April. The system operator is seeking an initial 200MW but sees the service as an enduring regime as the UK power system continues to lose inertia.

Successful bidders will receive four-year contracts. National Grid believes this strikes a balance between risk and reward for those looking to own and operate assets, which in the main are likely to be batteries.

However, the auction is technology-neutral. Interconnectors, other forms of energy storage and even aggregated domestic batteries will not be prevented from making a bid, provided they meet the 1MW minimum requirement, can connect to Grids systems and have the relevant data.

How those assets will impact distribution networks and what the implications may be for operators connection agreements is something the national and local grid operators are set to thrash out.

National Grid is also set to broaden the scope of Enhanced Frequency Response (which requires sub-second responses to deviations from the power systems standard 50Hz to prevent faults) so that its definition also covers primary and secondary response. While the system operator originally mooted a nine-second minimum response duration, that may now be extended.

National Grid says it may also develop in parallel another service for short duration, fast-response characteristics for post-fault frequency control.

Details of the proposed timelines for the EFR service, alongside an FAQ document, tender criteria and how service providers may work with other balancing mechanisms can be found at missioncriticalpower.uk

Changes to capacity market could hit back-up generators

While larger UK businesses are being moved to half hourly settlement for their electricity use, it is likely that all firms will soon follow, according to recommendations published in March by the competition watchdog.

The Competition & Markets Authority has told Decc and Ofgem to improve settlement rules and procedures for both gas and electricity. Currently, most businesses are settled according to a profile class for electricity, rather than their actual consumption. By moving to half hourly metering and settlement, businesses will face more reflective time-of use charges for power. That is,

expensive power in the morning and evening peak periods, but cheaper during the late morning and mid-afternoon and very cheap overnight.

The proposals would therefore expose all businesses to much sharper price signals.

Gas settlement has other issues, but essentially the CMA is concerned inefficient allocation of costs leads to gas firms gaming the system and businesses paying more than they need to as a result.

The CMA said it wants to see Ofgems reforms of gas settlement implemented by October this year and additional security measures developed as soon as possible.

Blanket time-of-use tariffs proposed

that Defra will consult on later this year. However, Tim Rotheray,head of the Association for Decentralised Energy, has warned that the move could inadvertently penalise back-up generation.

The new rules would not simply limit operating hours but would apply to diesel generators (or aggregators of diesel gensets) from 1 MW to 50 MW, irrespective of their number of hours of operation during any given year.

The mention of this Medium Plant Combustion Directive could land hospitals, data centres, industrial users with back-up generation with very significant costs, said Rotheray. [Decc] is absolutely right to stop diesel farms, but diesel back-up has a role to play to ensure security of electricity supply to those sites. The

proposals for the MPCD need more thinking through.

The department has also outlined changes for demand-response providers. Proposals mooted include only allowing demand-side response from load shifting into the transitional capacity auctions, as opposed to allowing small generators to bid. Or specifying a minimum amount within each auction that comes from demand reduction. Decc also plans to lower the minimum entry size from 2MW to 500kW.

Significantly, Decc also flagged plans to change the distribution charging regime for embedded generators, which experts warn could have serious consequences for UK industry.

Decc is right to look at security of supply and new diesel farms are a bad thing, said Rotheray. But the mention of the embedded benefit [within the consultation] is completely inappropriate. It has nothing to do with capacity or security of supply. If the embedded benefit were to go, we would see industrial plants shutting. It would be very significant.

Rotheray said the proposal was a fundamental change to the principles of electricity charging.

Move could add costs

7missioncriticalpower.uk April 2016 MCP

The government has confirmed that the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) is to be scrapped following the 2018/19 compliance year. The move was expected under the review of business energy taxes.

The Treasury acknowledged the CRC had been complex, bureaucratic and costly for participants. It said the new landscape would see businesses only charged one energy tax administered by suppliers rather than being required to forecast energy use, buy and surrender allowances.

To recoup the CRC money, the chancellor has said that the Climate Change Levy (CCL) will rise by 2019 and

Osborne confirms CRC axe with CCL set to rise

News in briefModular UPS winsRiello UPS has scooped a global award for its new modular product, the Multi Power. Riello UPS received the New Product Innovation Frost & Sullivan award for setting new standards in the modular UPS market.

Designed to protect critical high-density computers and IT environments, the Multi Power combines the high levels of reliability and performance in a scalable solution. Using up to 28 power modules of 42kW each, the Multi Power scales from 42kW to 1176kW. It also maintains efficiency in online mode operation of up to 96.5% even at loads of 20%.

Edge white paperA new white paper from Schneider Electric, #226 The Drivers and Benefits of Edge Computing, describes how internet usage trends, including high-bandwidth applications such as video on demand, and the proliferation devices spurred on by the Internet of Things impact upon the technical limitations of key elements such as Internet Protocol (IP) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Edge computing is an answer to this. schneider-electric.com/

whitepapers

Ian Bitterlin, consulting engineer and visiting professor at Leeds University, on the latest ASHRAE Thermal Guidelines

The 4th Edition (late 2015) of the ASHRAE Thermal Guidelines has been published for a few months now. The significant change has been in the recommended lower humidity limit which, in simple terms, means that humidification will never be required in data centres containing ICT hardware of any generation since 2004 (the publication year of the first

Thermal Guidelines).Purchasing the Guidelines (less

than 60 to download) represents excellent value for money as it is packed with valuable information from the only global resource covering ICT hardware but the detail concerning the lower limit is that it has been changed to a dew point of -9C (yes, below freezing) so that bone-dry air will not cause any problems from static discharges under any circumstances.

This change enables cash to be saved, both capital in the purchase price of CRACs etc and operational costs in energy use and humidifier element replacements (which has

never been a cheap exercise).However, despite it seeming to be

a no-brainer, why do I ask if you are a gambler? Well, the 2011 Guidelines are now five years old and yet the industry has not jumped onto the widened temperature and humidity windows with relish and enthusiasm, with many still regarding the 2008 edition as edge and avant-garde. So I wonder how long will it be before we see no humidification in all data centres?

Given the extremely conservative nature of our industry, I would not bet the farm on the 4th Edition being 100% adopted any time before 2020

Fancy a wager?

that charges will change to incentivise businesses to use less gas. That will affect business energy bills and represents further bad news for the renewable energy industry.

The CCL is essentially a carbon tax. Up until last August, businesses were taxed for using fossil-generated power with exemptions for those using renewable power. However, the chancellor removed that exemption in his 2015 Budget statement, with Treasury stating the move would save 3.9bn by 2020.

The Treasury said it would change charges for different fuel types under the CCL, moving to a ratio of 2.5:1 (electricity:gas)

from April 2019. It wants a ratio of 1:1 (electricity:gas) rates by 2025 to incentivise reductions in the use of gas.

The government said it will keep existing Climate Change Agreement scheme eligibility criteria in place until at least 2023 with the discount rate increasing from 2019. The Treasury stated that a Decc-led target review would begin this year to ensure agreements deliver on their energy efficiency goals.

Carbon Price Support rate will remain at 18 t/CO2 from 2016-17 to 2019-20 with a long-term plan for carbon prices expected in the Autumn Statement.

Equinix and Telecity were among the first organisations in the UK to complete energy efficiency audits required by the government. The Environment Agency has published fresh data on the firms that submitted energy audits ahead of the Energy Savings Obligation Scheme (Esos) deadline.

The list of 5,939 organisations that made the cutoff is published under the governments open data

initiative. While some doubt remains over how many organisations actually qualify for the scheme (the EA sent out some 14,000 reminder letters last year), the agency will not be publishing a list of those that may now face potential enforcement action.

The data suggests that as little as 13% of organisations (794 out of 5,939) have a quantitative target to reduce energy. Equinix was in the minority of firms that

disclosed a target, stating that was to work towards a PUE of 1.6 for electricity.

Meanwhile, only about a quarter of respondents (1,400 organisations), said their board had discussed the results of the Esos assessment. Those figures support findings by Mission Critical Power publisher Energyst Media that energy efficiency remains too low on board priorities although it is moving up the agenda.

Ahead of the Esos deadline

Advantages at the cutting edgeWith the colossal increase in data from the Internet of Things and the explosion of big data, cloud computing may not always be the best solution. Processing is moving to the edge and with it the need to crunch data. That might now mean thinking inside the box. Tim McManan-Smith looks at one such example at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and how it used Schneider Electrics prefabricated data centre solution

The proliferation of big data arising from smart applications necessitates a rise in processing capability by data centres. The Internet of Things (IoT) means that more and more devices use the web to communicate alongside the increasing use of video and other data-intensive activities. Although cloud computing is one way of dealing with this, practicality and costs mean that processing cabilities are moving to the edge of the network.

Edge computing is all about pushing processing for certain data-intensive, remotely isolated applications away from the core of the data

demand is too high for remote processing in a data centre far away from where the video is being watched, for example.

A piece of research conducted by Wikibon compared a cloud-only approach with edge computing working with a little cloud computing.

The case study for this research was a remote wind-farm with security cameras and other sensors. Figure 1, right, is a summary of the findings. It compares the three-year management and processing costs of a cloud-only solution using AWSs IoT services compared with an Edge + cloud solution using a Pivot3 Server SAN with an Open Source Time-series Database together

INSIGHT8


centre to the outer edges of the network where the actual processing needs to take place. Fundamentally, this is where the action is, so it makes sense for computing at the edge to evolve. This will not replace the need for cloud computing but complement in situations when the data is further away from the data centre.

Although cloud data storage decreases the upfront capital costs of big data and allows on-demand increases in data size that encourages people to store more and more, there are cost implications. Billions of connected devices consuming rich media also cause bandwidth problems; trending videos can mean

50bnThe amount of Internet of Things devices by 2020

with AWS IoT services. With a distance of 200 miles between the wind farm and the cloud, and with an assumed 95% reduction in traffic from using the edge computing capabilities, the total cost is reduced from about $81,000 to $29,000 over three years. The authors suggest that even with much shorter distances, the advantage of Edge computing is likely to be overwhelming.

Edge computing is going to be a prevealent force in the future, not only in industrial and IT applications but places such as retail centres and even churches. An example of this is the Gaudi-designed Sagrada Familia, a Catholic Basilica in Barcelona and Unesco world heritage site. It might be thought that processing capability of a church would be adequate to use the internet and have cloud-based processing capability. However, as well as being a working church it has more than 3 million visitors per year and is also still a construction site, aiming to be completed by 2026, 100 years after Gaudis death.

Sagrada Familia had been running its IT service in a server room with inadequate space for expansion. To accommodate the need for increased digitisation of its business processes such as point of sale for the many vistors and for more security, Sagrada Familia was compelled to expand.

The IoT makes equipment that in the past was just a consumer of content a device that produces it. It creates content at the edge, comments Schneider Electrics vice-president, IT and data centre business Arun Shenoy.

By 2020 there will be 50 billion IoT devices. Cloud and service provider markets are dominating growth and change but can the re-architecture of the internet happen quickly enough to support IoT? We need edge computing. We need both hyperscale and edge, its not a question of either.

The great thing about the

9


edge is that you gather data from local things and compute it there and therefore deliver high bandwidth in local areas, says Matthew Baynes, Schneider Electrics datacentre strategy and business development director, UK and Ireland.

The Sagrada Familias new data centre was needed to manage ticketing admissions, retail operations, video surveillance and ongoing engineering design and construction for the next phases of the building project. Moving the data centre offsite was not an option due to concerns with latency and security; but building a data centre within an active construction site introduced the additional risk of downtime

April 2016 MCP

which would impact business processes.

In 16 weeks, Schneider Electric designed, manufactured and delivered a turnkey data centre infrastructure solution, complete with IT, racks, UPS, power distribution, precision cooling, environmental management and fire suppression system.

The data centre was transported as two separate prefabricated modules with racks, containment, power, cooling, security and management systems pre-installed and then ganged together on site to create a functional and spacious room. The units were delivered and installed outside of peak times to minimise visitor and congregation disruption.

Another advantage of the Sagrada Familia having a prefabricated data centre is that it is movable. This would reduce construction costs by eliminating the need to build two different sites. Schneider Electric says the data centre has been built with the future in mind and will accommodate Sagrada Familias IT infrastructure growth. l

schneider-electric.com

The Internet of Things makes equipment that in the past was just a consumer of content a device that produces it. It creates content at the edge

Inside the Sagrada Familias prefabricated data centre

Figure 1: Comparison of total three-year management and processing costs of Cloud only vs. Edge + Cloud with 95% Edge Data Reduction (200 miles distance)

Cloud-only Edge + Cloud

$80,581

$28,927

000s ($)

Th

ree-y

ear

co

st o

f m

anag

ing

an

d p

roce

ssin

g d

ata 90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Source: Wikibon IoT Project

Could superconductivity make the internet sustainable?There are three steps to classically defined sustainability and they are meant to be taken in strict order: reduce consumption; improve efficiency; and then power from a renewable source. If you do them in reverse then you are just wasting a valuable and finite resource, says Ian Bitterlin

As I wrote in October, power consumption in the internet, particularly data centres, is growing at least 15% compound annual growth rate on a global basis fuelled mainly by mobile phone access, social networking, gaming, gambling and video entertainment. This growth is exacerbated by faster access and the superfast broadband polices of governments with an effect driven by Jevons Paradox. In some ICT mature markets, with near 100% mobile phone penetration, the growth in traffic is slowing but the video-based demand of recent years will be replaced by the Internet-of-Things and is likely to continue unabated.

The exponential growth in data has been well demonstrated (see the data for 15 years 4% (compound monthly) growth in a major European internet exchange, right) and can be regarded as a proxy for the power required to generate, transport, process, store, regurgitate and consume. Most estimates for Europe put data centre power consumption at between 2-3% of the electrical utility capacity and if the 15% growth rate were to continue then, clearly, the future is unsustainable as ICT would consume the entire utility capacity in less than 30 years, with data centres alone consuming 30%.

However, Pandoras Box has long been opened and the chances of our society actually using the internet

performance when compared with traditional solutions: Power transmitted via

superconducting cables does so at extremely low losses

Data transmitted via superconducting interconnections does so at extremely lower power and speed close to the speed of light

Superconductivity applied to micro- and nano-electronic computing decreases the Watts/FLOP (power per unit of computation) by more than 100x

Taking these attributes in turn leads to an interesting scenario for the internet or data centres. Firstly, superconducting cable is more applicable to bulk power transfer over long distances rather than specifically to data centres (eg bringing Peta-Watts of solar power from the Sahara to Europe) at minimal losses.

Secondly, the physical infrastructure required to house super-conducting (eg copper instead of fibre) data interconnections over long distances is not unsubstantial and a paradigm shift in network photonics may well provide a normal temperature solution that approaches similar energy consumption. However the third application seems to have great potential for giant cloud-centric data centres.

As an example we could consider the fastest supercomputer in the world

VIEWPOINT10


We could foresee that a Europe-wide network of these superconducting clusters could be ultimately connected via a super-conducting mesh network integrated with fibre optics-based technology. This would reduce our current European data centre utility demand from more than 3% to less than 0.03%

less are highly unlikely, especially when we remind ourselves that 60% of the worlds population doesnt have an internet connection but wants one. So, the first step to sustainability (reduced consumption) doesnt look like a viable strategy.

So what, other than restricting access to digital services that are not vital to society via tax (the only solution according to Jevons) can be done towards the second step; improving resource effectiveness? A possible answer may lay in superconductivity.

Superconductivity is a low temperature phenomenon extensively studied in the last decades, with mature and well known applications in the fields of material science and electronics. In general, superconductivity leads to dramatically improved

TB input/month

No

v 0

1

50,000

0

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

550,000

No

v 0

2

No

v 0

3

No

v 0

4

No

v 0

5

No

v 0

6

Nov

07

No

v 0

8

No

v 0

9

No

v 1

0

No

v 1

1

No

v 1

2

No

v 1

3

Amsterdam Internet Exchange monthly ISP input traffic July 2001 to January 2014

Source: ams-ix.net

11


combined action with superconducting electronics (SCE) can represent an effective solution for high data rate network switches. SCE technology can offer >200Gbs cables by direct electrical connections between corresponding cable ends, and by embedding optics and/or superconducting electronics within the connectors it can overcome

April 2016 MCP

some of the limitations of passive cables. In particular, between cryogenic modules SCE technology will have the highest energy efficiency, highest data rate (100-200Gb/s per line) by entirely superconducting coaxial or superconducting multi-bit

stripline. Between cryo and non-cryo racks, hybrid

superconducting-optical cables with a data rate of

60-80Gb/s per line can be developed, each cable accommodating

many transmission channels. In addition,

wave division multiplexing (WDM) can be used

for each optical fibre to increase the aggregate

data rate even further.The future of

superconductivity is highly attractive in many applications and now including powering the internet and potentially enabling a major part of its sustainability. Clearly strategic partnering is an important component in promoting successfully energy-efficient electronics and cabling products and organisations are working together to pioneer progress in this field of application (see box), so I am indebted to them for the ideas explored here. l Ian Bitterlin is a consulting engineer and visiting professor at Leeds University

30%of entire electrical utility capacity will be consumed by data centres alone in less than 30 years

Pioneers in super-conductivityUniversity of Naples Federico II and CNR SPIN: Experimental and theoretical groups having a highly qualified expertise in studying weak superconductivity including materials science skills, exploitation of Josephson Effect for novel quantum devices and a new generation of hybrids with superconductivity being interfaced to magnetic, electric or other functional degrees of freedom. The team benefits from a large number of international collaborations including a consolidated consortium of EU universities and research centres involved in research into novel solutions for superconducting based electronics.

Hypres, Inc.: An integrated cryo-electronics company with in-depth expertise in design, fabrication, evaluation, cryo-packaging, and system integration

of superconductor integrated circuits and cryo-cooled systems. Hypres runs the worlds most reliable commercial superconductor integrated circuits (IC) foundry, and engages in the development of energy efficient SFQ logic circuits for computing applications and research and development activities in superconducting spintronics and quantum computing.

Columbus Superconductors SpA: A world-leading company in cutting-edge magnesium diboride (MgB2) technology and the transformation of this superconducting material into long, versatile and highly reliable superconducting wires for various applications including a possible application in computing systems and data centres. The company vertically integrates the entire development cycle from R&D to applications and from production to sales.

Illust

ratio

n by

Wilg

enge

broe

d on

Flic

kr -

http

s://w

ww

.flick

r.com

/pho

tos/

wilg

enge

broe

d/82

4956

5455

/, C

C B

Y 2.0

, http

s://c

omm

ons.w

ikim

edia

.org

/w/in

dex.p

hp?c

urid

=327

4554

1

that, according to the Top500 website, is currently in China, can reach 33 PetaFLOPs while consuming 18MW. This could be replaced by a superconducting cluster consuming only 2-300kW. Then we could foresee that a Europe-wide network of these superconducting clusters could be ultimately connected via a superconducting mesh network integrated with fibre optics based technology. This would reduce our current European data centre utility demand from more than 3% to less than 0.03%, take enormous strain off of the utility system, reduce redundancy requirements, solve all problems of latency and permit data sovereignty. An then we can see a path towards enabling the internet for all the planet, not just us in the lucky minority.

However, we can go one step further (see the article in the December 2015 edition of MCP) and consider the reuse of waste heat; no longer would we find it desirable or beneficial to locate data centres in remote cold climates, they could be close the ICT load with 100% of the energy reused, for example in district water heating of a smart-city.

Outside of the data centre cryogenic superconducting cables can impact power distribution, and the

Rethink UPS. We did!EnerSys introduces DataSafe XE batteries power for modern critical UPS applications

When mainframe computers were historically the norm, two factors drove uninterruptible power supply (UPS) runtime: 1. the time needed to complete

an orderly shutdown of the computer system to prevent/mitigate the loss of data; and

2. the standby generator to become fully operational and capable of assuming the supported load. The

COVER STORY12


15-minute UPS runtime rate was the merging of these two requirements.

Today, the UPS world is a different place. We have interconnected servers, flash memory, automatic transfer of gensets and phase sync in seconds. This means for a large and growing portion of the UPS market the 15-minute standard is excessive and is being replaced by autonomy

times of five minutes or less. Furthermore, greater

flexibility and improved efficiency of assets and in some cases, cost savings due to reduced capital costs related to energy consumption and mechanical and electrical infrastructure are a must!

DataSafe XE batteries: A breakthrough in runtimes of five minutes or lessEnerSys has designed

DataSafe XE batteries to be the first to meet the evolving requirements of todays modern critical UPS applications. As such, these unique Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries feature advanced Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) technology and superior manufacturing processes to provide high power, short duration runtimes of less than five minutes. The proprietary energy dense

13


Rethink UPS. We did!

April 2016 MCP

design provides for longer service life and for enhanced efficiency, even at higher temperatures.

Advantages of TPPL Technology The TPPL technology in DataSafe XE batteries provides superior performance characteristics to overcome many of the key failure modes associated with standard Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries. This makes them uniquely suited to the modern critical UPS market.

Technology provides a number of important advantages:

Less corrosion, longer life: Positive grid corrosion is always present in VRLA AGM batteries but not all VRLA AGM batteries are the same. Both life and performance of batteries are greatly impacted by their design. Most VRLA batteries employ a calcium alloy. Calcium is added to provide additional strength to the grid during the manufacturing process. However, impurities such as calcium additives accelerate the corrosion process and increase the size of the grain leading to accelerated grid growth and higher internal resistance. DataSafe XE batteries do not include

In addition, providing the charge voltage is properly regulated, they do not require current limitation, which allows for more rapid recharging.

Low float current: The high purity materials in AGM TPPL batteries require low float current when compared to standard AGM batteries. This results in lower gas emissions, minimal grid corrosion, optimum conductivity and enhanced energy efficiency.

Lower total cost of ownership (TCO): Finally, with DataSafe XE batteries, EnerSys has provided a product to meet the needs of todays mission critical UPS market. AGM batteries with TPPL technology have set a new industry standard by delivering high power, short duration runtimes in a power-dense, energy-efficient design. The ability to operate datacenters at higher temperatures together with the lower energy consumption of TPPL batteries can reduce the total cost of ownership up to 25% compared with conventional VRLA batteries.

For more information on EnerSys and its full line of products, systems and support, visit www.enersys.com

calcium. Even though positive grid corrosion is inevitable in VRLA AGM batteries, the very high purity lead and grade of acid used by EnerSys has a much lower corrosion rate than lead with alloys. EnerSys TPPL technology greatly delays corrosion, which enhances conductivity, performance and longevity. The DataSafe XE battery also reduces costs through its longer operational and storage life.

Greater power density during short runtimes: Using thicker plates can extend the life of alloyed grids. However, thicker plates do not discharge as efficiently as thinner ones that utilise the active material better. Greater plate density provides more power in the same space or allows for smaller battery installation thus providing space saving benefits. The deeper the discharge, the more effective EnerSys TPPL technology becomes, providing greater power density without sacrificing battery life.

Rapid recharge capability: The power-dense structure and greater active material utilisation enable AGM TPPL batteries to recharge more rapidly and have higher cycling capability.

The DataSafe XE battery offering

The DataSafe XE battery product range includes the following 12 volt, front terminal models:

Dimensions (mm) (kg)

Battery type Length Width Height Weight

12XE1010F-FR 561 125 283 48.7

12XE1110F-FR 561 125 283 51.7

12XE1150F-FR 561 125 316 58.6

About EnerSysEnerSys, the global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications, manufactures and distributes reserve power and motive power batteries, battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories and outdoor equipment enclosure solutions to customers worldwide. Motive power batteries and chargers are utilised in electric forklift trucks and other commercial electric powered vehicles. Reserve power batteries are used in the telecommunication and utility industries, uninterruptible power supplies, and numerous applications requiring stored solutions including medical, aerospace and defense systems. Outdoor equipment enclosure products are utilised in the telecommunication, cable, utility, transportation industries and by government and defense customers. The company also provides aftermarket and customer support services to its customers from over 100 countries through its sales and manufacturing locations around the world.

Does the ETL help when selecting an efficient UPS?Riellos general manager Leo Craig discusses the benefits or otherwise of the governments Energy Technology List (ETL) and Enhanced Capital Allowances (ECAs) when specifying a UPS

With the cost of energy rising and increasing pressures from government to reduce energy as part of the 20-20-20 by 2020 commitment, it is no wonder that making energy savings is becoming more and more important to business and industry. In the data centre environment, in fact in any mission critical application, selecting an efficient UPS system that will save money on energy costs is becoming as important as resilience and continued uptime.

However, selecting the most efficient, reliable product for each individual application can be a minefield; with marketers using smoke and mirrors to make their

ENERGY MANAGEMENT14

terms of efficiency arent I?The simple answer is no,

maybe not

Crunching the numbers The reason for this is the way the efficiency targets have been set by the Carbon Trust and the reality in which we use UPSs in our critical environments.

If you have a standalone capacity UPS system, best practice is to run the UPS to around 80% utilisation, leaving some head room for demand surges and load changes. If youre running a parallel redundant system, then this figure falls to 40% load on each UPS.

Comparing best practice figures and real world figures and it is more like 60-70% for a capacity system and 25-35%

offering appear to tick all the efficiency boxes. I is no wonder that the Carbon Trusts Engineering Technology List (ETL) of energy efficient products is being relied on by more and more businesses looking to select energy efficient UPS systems, especially as the government incentivises this through the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme.

The way the system works is the Carbon Trust and the Decc set the efficiency levels that must be reached for the equipment to be eligible for the ECA tax break. This seems straightforward and easy to understand, leading the buyer to believe that if I select a UPS from the ETL, I must be buying the best of breed in

MCP April 2016

If I select a UPS from the ETL, I must be buying the best of breed in terms of efficiency arent I?


meet the targets set, but only just, and if youre running your UPS between 30 and 80% load you may well not have the most

efficient system for the load you are actually

using. This means that whatever you may gain with the ECA tax relief in the

first year, you could well lose

in greater energy costs over the

lifespan of the UPS.

A good decision is based on knowledge, not numbersSo while the ETL is a good starting point, further investigations should be carried out with

the potential UPS manufacturer. Dont be afraid to ask for a copy of the efficiency test results, or even better, if a large UPS system is being purchased, insist on a factory acceptance test, where you can see for yourself the efficiency figures being proved. Then if you find the system does not perform to the published figures, you will have some direct redress with the manufacturer especially as a 2% difference in efficiency figures on a 1MVA UPS could add well over 15K/annum onto your electricity costs, and thats not counting the addition to the cooling bill.

riello.co.uk

for a parallel. This is because when a UPS is sized initially, everyone allows for expansion, which rarely happens short term and sometimes not even in the long term. We can therefore make a strong statement that no one runs a UPS at 100% load. It is bad practice and very risky if you consider a slight increase in load will put the UPS into bypass and leave the load unprotected.

This is where the ETL List comes into question, as its efficiency requirement figures start at 93% at 25% load, 94.5 per cent at 50% load and rise to 95% at 75% and 100% load.

Now consider this: most UPS manufacturers design their UPSs to work in real life situations. They design the UPS to have maximum efficiency between 20 and 80%, with the efficiency slightly dropping at 100% because one should never be run continuously at 100% load. Therefore, there are a lot of UPS manufacturers out there that not only meet, but actually exceed, the 25-75% efficiency requirements but just miss the 100% target. The reason for this is in the design of the UPS to give high efficiency at low loads.

Therefore, current UPSs listed on the ETL might well

lifespan of the UPS.

A good decision is based on knowledge, not numbersSo while the ETL is a good starting point, further investigations should be carried out with

Sponsored column

Colin Green, UK Head of Regulatory Affairs and Technology, ABB Power Grids division

The UKs power industry is entering a period of dramatic change, as we shift away from the traditional top-down model of power generation, transmission and distribution to one where generation resources are widely distributed, increasingly intermittent and counted in the thousands rather than the hundreds. This shift will demand previously unheard of levels of system flexibility in order to allow both demand and supply to flex in response to changes in power generation and consumption.

The recently published Smart Power report from the Infrastructure Commission sets out the challenges and opportunities facing the UK power industry very well. The report highlights the three key areas in which the UK needs to innovate over the coming decades in order to take full advantage of what it calls the smart power revolution: interconnection, storage and demand flexibility.

When it comes to demand flexibility, a whole raft of sophisticated energy management solutions are coming on stream that will help enterprise and residential consumers optimise their electricity usage in ways that both

reduce overall costs and balance supply and demand.

Traditionally, power network operators have had the flexibility to balance supply and demand mostly through controlling the output of large, centralised generation resources in real time. As we make the shift towards a far greater number of smaller, distributed generation resources, with a far greater proportion of renewable energy sources, balancing supply and demand becomes a much more complex challenge.

The future power network may well be a collection of thousands of semi-autonomous micro- and nano-grids, featuring a mixture of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and energy storage systems in a variety of forms, complemented by multiple interconnects to other power grids. This will demand sophisticated management systems to control and dispatch the multiple energy resources at regional and local levels.

However, for ABB, this is not a futuristic possibility but a development of field-proven technology solutions that we have already deployed in dozens of installations around the world over the past 15 years. ABB is already delivering stabilisation, automation and intelligent control solutions that manage renewable energy generation in microgrids, ensuring utility-grade power quality and grid stability.

Power system flexibility for future UK energy needs

Data centres powered by the sun why more sustainable servers are a true necessityThe carbon footprint of data centres is coming under increasing scrutiny. Solarsenses head of sales and marketing David Snape explains how solar could provide a sustainable solution

Todays digital storage needs are rising by degrees of magnitude, and the carbon impacts of social media are unprecedented. Therefore, a stark choice confronts the sector; green up server farms: or impose payments and restrictions on tomorrows uploads to curb demand and fund solutions

At Solarsense, weve realised that energy use in data centres has rarely been so scrutinised. The Independent newspaper recently estimated energy consumed by the worlds data centres, repositories for billions

powered; Japan would have no energy left to run its centres by 2030 on present rates.

At that point, social media fans certainly would sit up and take notice, demanding action. They would ask: how did the industry let things get so bad?

Responses and solutions Action is therefore being taken. The European Commission has set out its vision for data centres to be at least 80% renewably powered by 2020.

Ricky Cooper, vice-president for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Digital Realty, has said the data centre

ENERGY MANAGEMENT16


of gigabytes of information, will treble in the next decade.

Already, the 416.2 terawatt hours of electricity the worlds data centres used last year was more than the UKs total consumption. Every like and every selfie comes with a largely unconsidered carbon cost, which doesnt, for now anyway, bother the billions of social media users.

But soon the issue might concern them. The truth today is more uncomfortable for energy managers: data centre and social media growth, without sustainable intervention, simply cant be

Every like and every selfie comes with a largely unconsidered carbon cost, which doesnt, for now anyway, bother the billions of social media users

Without sustainable intervention, data centre and

social media growth simply cant be powered

criticalpowersupplies.co.uk

CRITICAL POWER : When it matters most

Call sales: 0800 978 898824 hr service: 0845 519 3928E-store: criticalpowersupplies.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

Supplies Projects SupportCritical POWER

Design & Build UPS

Cooling Data Centres

Generators PDU

Onsite 24/7 Services Racks & Enclosures

Voltage Optimisation

Batteries & Accessories

ONE SUPPLIER Providing turnkey critical power solutions, including design, installation & maintenance

3-Year warranty

Call now for a FREE site survey & health check

World class impartial advice saving you time & money

Nationwide sales & engineering team, on hand 24/7

WE ARE EXHIBITING AT

DCW ON STAND F74

1213 April 2016, ExCeL in London


industrys emission levels are at a point where the it can expect regulators to sit up and take notice.

That alone should be a wake up call, but todays reality remains that for many data centres, cutting costs and maintaining 24/7 functionality trounces sustainability concerns. This state of affairs cannot continue. The Independent says some internet companies, such as Facebook, Google and Apple, are leading efforts to be more environmentally responsible.

However, more must be done; for a start it is often more commercially attractive to pre-empt environmental regulation on carbon than to adapt to rules at the last minute. Branding opportunities and positive CSR are obvious further benefits to stem from proactively tackling the issue.

Whats needed is a step change both in willingness to seek sustainable, renewable power for data centres, and the understanding of the options out there.

Sustainable solutions There are some complex questions to consider when it comes to embedding sustainable power for data centres. What will the options cost, and how reliable are they? What are the issues in terms of payback time, maintenance and overall impacts on business operations?

Answering these questions requires some rigorous interrogation of the best technologies out there. Every data centre is different, but all share the requirement for immediate and long lasting alternatives to fossil-based electricity.

Of all the renewables options out there for data centres, solar is a very worthy contender. There are many reasons for this. One is obvious. Most data centres have one thing in common: large, unused roof spaces ideal for solar PV.

Illustrating the scope of solar, Forbes commented on Apples news it would buy

$848m worth of solar from a 130MW power plant created by First Solar in 2015.

Forbes argues that solar provides long-term stability in pricing; In 2013, Google said it had already saved over $1bn on datacenter energy initiatives, it writes.

The magazine made some very telling predictions: Solar will shift from something thats nice to do to something that should have been done yesterday. Companies like First Solar will graduate from being panel makers and solar developers to being seen as primary infrastructure providers.

But data centres need not just buy solar power from others. They can make their own power.

Benefits of owned solarWithout miring the reader in technical detail, here are some of the key positives behind going solar. For a start, solar can offer fast payback compared with other renewable technologies. In other words, it isnt long before the cost of the panels is won back in terms of energy savings.

Secondly, solar panels are very reliable and low

maintenance, and are becoming more so. They are long lasting and as such are almost an install and forget technology. Once they are in place, there is little that is going to damage them whilst they quietly get to work on the rooftop.

Speaking of rooftops, this is of course unused space. Solar doesnt require additional land, additional buildings or additional towers like wind. The lower business impacts of solar put it high on the list, ideal for data centres looking to install sustainable power options but unsure of the simplest place to start.

Of course, getting solar panels in place requires work and investment but it need not be challenging or expensive.

What will be pricey is failure to act. Catching up with greener laws is always expensive. Charging users to upload, simply because data centres are slow to shift to renewables is a marketing nightmare.

All this can be avoided, and emissions can be limited by taking steps toward solar early. It seems to me there is nothing not to like about powering data centres using the sun. l

solarsense-uk.com

ENERGY MANAGEMENT18

Getting solar panels in place requires work and investment

414.2Electricity in terawatt hours used by the worlds data centres last year more than the UKs total consumption

Batteries included: government backs smart grid switchThe National Infrastructure Commission has recommended building a smarter grid without delay. The Treasury has backed the plans. Those with battery assets could stand to gain, writes Brendan Coyne

The government has backed recommendations to speed the development of a much smarter power system. The plan is to bring down market barriers for battery storage and demand side response, which could provide significant revenue gains for operators of mission critical infrastructure.

George Osbornes March Budget gave the green light to the recommendations published a few days earlier by the National Infrastructure Commission. It stated: The government will implement the commissions recommendations, and will

the economics of that type of storage.

In the past few months energy suppliers have launched schemes that will effectively pay or subsidise the cost of electricity to those that use power when the wind is blowing. That is because changes to industry rules for energy suppliers make it much more punitive for them to be out of balance. So-called cash-out changes mean it is now more expensive for them to generate or consumer more power then they contracted for.

That means companies can charge storage assets at a subsidised rate. They can also get paid to discharge

ENERGY MANAGEMENT20


plant and developers are not rushing to build new ones. National Grid therefore needs more companies to respond to signals and switch to back-up plant or adjust consumption in order to meet peak demand.

Over the coming years, it will need many more companies to sign up to balancing services in order to keep a more weather-dependent and leaner power system stable.

Paid twiceBattery assets and UPS systems, which provide the fastest response times, will therefore become increasingly valuable. Recent market economics are starting to alter

work with Ofgem to remove regulatory and policy barriers, positioning the UK to become a world leader in flexibility and smart technologies, including electricity storage.

While all political statements should be viewed with a degree of scepticism, it is clear from National Grids market signals that UK energy infrastructure is already headed in that direction.

With more intermittent renewable generation and less thermal plant on the system, capacity margins are thin. The disruption of intermittent wind and solar has effected wholesale market power prices and the economics of thermal

Harnessing battery storage will become crucial

their assets to perform grid balancing services when there is not enough power to meet demand.

Contracting assets into both of those types of schemes may prove challenging. But, if possible, would fundamentally change the economics of battery storage, from getting paid once, to getting paid twice.

There are also arbitrage opportunities for operators able to charge batteries when power prices are cheaper and discharge them when it is more expensive. It is worth noting that analysts predict power prices will become spikier within-day over the next few years (see December issue of MCP).

Key prioritiesIn its report, the National Infrastructure Commission outlined key priorities for UK energy infrastructure. It said smart grid development harnessing battery storage and demand-side response and better interconnection with the continent would play a crucial role in keeping the grid stable and the lights on. It recommended that regulator Ofgem and policy department Decc lose no time in making the necessary new market rules.

21


Big shift, big bucksThe commission noted that the need for grid balancing services could increase up to ten-fold as intermittent power replaces baseload plant.

It stated that investors were queuing up to invest in storage, and that storage would not require subsidy. That is largely because payments for the fastest forms of demand response are likely sufficient incentive for operators to build, own and operate those assets.

Those who do not have to build assets, and already have grid connections, will therefore have an advantage in the tenders currently being run by National Grid and potentially in future, also by distribution network operators. Given that National Grids tender for 200MW of sub-second enhanced frequency response is six times oversubscribed, that advantage could prove crucial.

Breaking down barriersThe commission recommended a regulatory overhaul of the market to bring more electricity storage capacity to market. Currently, storage is treated is treated as both generation and consumption. That means storage operators are charged twice for using the electricity network. The commission thinks they should be classified as a distinct asset to remove double charging.

This approach ignores the other benefits that storage can play in the electricity system and creates barriers to investment in storage assets, the report states. For

April 2016 MCP

example, it increases costs for storage asset owners by requiring storage to be charged twice for using the electricity network once as a generator when exporting electricity and again as a consumer when electricity is being taken from the network to be stored.

While storage technologies are clearly making use of the network both as a consumer and producer, charging in this way takes no account of the fact that storage assets are likely to be exporting power at times of peak load, and drawing power at times of peak generation, reducing the stresses faced by the network rather than increasing them.

Storage assets also take a double hit on government levies such as the Contract for Difference scheme under which low carbon and renewable generators are given a guaranteed price for their power. The price of that support is smeared across all electricity bills.

The commission said those operating storage assets should not pay that levy when charging, and then have the levy added again when their power is exported.

A better approach would be to charge these levies on the basis of the electricity actually used, reflecting that no storage technology is 100% efficient, rather than on both inflows and outflows. Not only would this be a fairer treatment, creating a level playing field with other technologies, but it would also incentivise more efficient storage technologies, the report stated. l

Battery assets and UPS systems, which provide the fastest response times, will therefore become increasingly valuable

Prepare for higher bills and spikier pricesAlso in March, Decc said it would bring the capacity market forward a year and proposed rule changes to bring in more demand-side response providers to the market.

Thats good news for those with flexible onsite generation and consumption, as they can bid for contracts that will pay them to make their asset flexibility available to cover shortfalls in winter capacity.

However, it will add cost to every energy bill as the money paid to those providers appears on bills as a levy, and Decc also published proposals that could have serious implications for use of diesel back-up generators (see news, p6).

Meanwhile, the National Infrastructure Commission report contained one ominous line for those that do not, or cannot, consider more flexible power use. We see a case for sharper allocation of the costs of the capacity market to incentivise consumers to reduce demand at peak times, it stated.

Making the marketDecc will consult on the energy storage market this spring with the aim of creating a level playing field. Government will respond to the consultation in autumn, which could make next year an interesting one for companies considering how they can make money from battery storage assets. Participating in balancing services, for example, could fund investment in new UPS infrastructure, or more UPS infrastructure, increasing redundancy as well as income.

High visibility of data centre assetsSiemens provides first European data centre with 3D visualisation DCIM platform

Cofely Services Agility data centre is located in the south of Belgium and serves both in-house GDF SUEZ Group clients and external customers with an independent ICT infrastructure.

The centre is the first in Europe to offer Datacenter Clarity LC with 3D visualisation, which offers a virtual tour through the data centre infrastructure while managing and monitoring remotely. The flexible 3D visualisation adds transparency to the data centre infrastructure resulting in accessible reporting, optimised

automated workplace mitigates the risk of human error for a business-critical resource such as a data centre.

As data centres need to consume significant amounts of energy, Cofely Services decided to focus on large-scale sustainability. One of the basic requirements for the Agility data centre was a DCIM platform that would provide a comprehensive overview of all assets. Datacenter Clarity LC optimises energy consumption thereby facilitating the cost effective operations that the Agility data centre required.

Alexandre Gera, data centre manager for Cofely Services

INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT22


We did not plan on a standard platform but we really needed a very flexible and high-performance DCIM that could handle multiple features in order to tour through the data storage

operations, smarter decision, higher flexibility and future-proof architecture.

Bridging the gapDatacenter Clarity LC is an advanced software solution that delivers data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) and guarantees a scalable, secure, seamless, resilient and intelligent data centre. It monitors and evaluates the performance of a data centre but also and most importantly bridges the gap between the two distinct areas of IT and facilities management. As a result, the creation of a systematic and

Cofely Services Agility data centre in Belgium

in Belgium and its Agility data centre, describes the decision making process: We definitely needed a software tool that could monitor, manage and measure our data centre performance, usage and energy consumption in relation to our building management system (BMS). As such, the platform also had to be configured for power usage effectiveness (PUE) as well as water and carbon usage effectiveness (WUE and CUE).

By delivering a guaranteed level of efficiency, it qualified as a green data centre. We did not plan on a standard platform but we really needed a very flexible and high-performance DCIM that could handle multiple features in order to tour through the data storage. It had to provide an overview of all assets, like usage parameters, capacity numbers and energy consumption.

The clarity solutionGera adds: Siemens offered us the Datacenter Clarity LC software tool with a complete package of features, which were flexible enough to be evaluated and modified during the rollout of the project. It also allowed us to insert additional features like a ticketing module or a maintenance tool at any stage.

Siemens designed the solution and architecture

23


of the Datacenter Clarity LC platform, installed and deployed it and arranged the integration with the existing building management system used by Cofely Services.

Datacenter Clarity LC at our Agility data centre is the key to any facility information, whether it concerns our own data or that of our clients, Gera continues.

It offers all information and knowledge related to the IT assets and the technical infrastructure and can be tracked daily. Clients can rely on a high-end environment for their IT infrastructure, and the overall view is managed and monitored with only one dedicated software tool. We are the first in Europe to offer a DCIM platform with 3D visualisation.

April 2016 MCP

Centre meets target PUE Cofelys Agility data centre exemplifies the movement towards green computing and energy efficiency.

Gera confirms: Our Agility data centre is a Tier III+ with an excellent PUE score. This is a key metric that compares energy use for the overall facility to that of the IT equipment. An ideal metric would be a 1.0 score, where all energy is used for IT equipment and there is no additional waste. A typical data centres PUE is 2.0. Cofely Services has designed and met its target of PUE 1.3, which represents a strong performance for a Tier III+ data centre requiring high resilience and redundancies. l

siemens.com/buildingtechnologies

1.0is the ideal PUE score metric where all energy is used for IT equipment and there is no additional waste. Cofely Services has designed and met its target of PUE 1.3

How resilient are your assets?Company assets such as data centres, important plant and machinery must be kept in good working order, with ongoing maintenance and upgrade key to keeping organisations operational as well as resilient in terms of their inherent value and in the event of disaster. Adler and Allans Alan Scrafton looks at how to become a High Reliability Organisation

Essential assets must in the first place be installed correctly, with an awareness of their ongoing usage and impact on the environment, be kept in good working order and upgraded where necessary to ensure their value is safeguarded. The expensive machinery that keeps our businesses running is a key part of an organisations intrinsic worth and should be regarded as important budget control, and profits.

When disaster strikes, such as flooding or cyber-attack, assets must prove their resilience by getting back to operations as quickly as possible. To achieve this, planned preventative maintenance (PPM) and asset improvement through cashing in old assets for newer, more efficient versions, is key to ensuring these value items, which have worth in their own right and are also essential for operations, remain in-tact.

Where these assets can potentially cause harm to the environment, such as fuel storage tanks and oil-based machinery, asset failure can have even more implications. Beyond maintenance, these assets and the surrounding area they could pollute, need protecting.

And, as all businesses want to keep running, back-up power supplies to prevent downtime even when issues with the main energy source have arisen, are essential. Problems lie in the fact that these power sources, usually oil-fired generators, are seldom used and therefore ignored in terms of maintenance and fuel quality.

Organisations that are able to avoid losses most of the

moving essential equipment if flood water rises.

Planned preventative maintenance: Regularly maintain and service essential equipment, based on actual usage, rather than a generic or at worst, reactive approach. A good PPM scheme has proven to reduce the costs of unnecessary equipment replacement, while preventing business downtime. PPM covers fuel too; where fuel sits for a long time, in the case of back-up generators, regular testing and where necessary, fuel polishing, will help maintain quality.

Extra protection: Assets, such as fuel tanks and DNO substations, can be given extra protection and life extension through the latest coatings and linings. Sprayed directly onto practically any surface (these coatings can also work well on roofs and floors), they will repel water, contain spills and make the coated assets more robust and resistant to corrosion and degradation.Dont leave it to chance,

maintain and enhance the value items of your business to ensure efficient and continuous business operations. By becoming an HRO, new opportunities and greater customer satisfaction may also be achieved.

Adler and Allan supplies a range of asset resilience services: PPM, fuel polishing, flood mitigation and protective coating and linings, including Adalline 400, which is hydrocarbon resistant and gives structural integrity to any surface. l

adlerandallan.co.uk

ASSET RESILIENCE24


Dont leave it to chance, maintain and enhance the value items of your business to ensure efficient and continuous business operations

time, despite operating in environments where there is a high potential for error, are identified as High Reliability Organisations (HROs). As an HRO, business streams will increase, with potential customers more likely to put their trust in a company that has a good asset resilience track record.

A sustainable HRO will be one with a clear asset performance management (APM) plan in place, so that physical assets are kept safe and efficient in a practical and sustainable way, meeting investment targets without extensive capital injection. Foresight and planning at the installation stage and going forward is essential.

Asset resilience essentials: Flood mitigation: Assess

your organisations risk through a flood risk assessment, which can predict flooding up to 60 years in the future. If you are at risk take appropriate steps; from physical flood defences to robust disaster plans, such as

Adalline 400 protective coating being demonstrated at Adler & Allan's demo centre in Brize Norton

Lets face it, no one business or space is going to have the same requirements for a data centre, so design flexibility is vital. In a generation where every aspect of life involves being agile and instant, a data centre must have the ability to adapt to these requirements and not impede progress, further complicated by making sure it does what it actually needs to do. So an agile design approach is critical in achieving an efficient, future proofed data centre.

Our reliance on electricity supply has never been greater, so the requirement for dependable, resilient power protection, energy management and cooling has also never been so essential. Turnkey methods will resolve the many diverse challenges to be faced and ensure continuous uptime but there is a constant need to keep an eye on the long-term future flexibility, while accelerating return on investment and offering the lowest total cost of ownership over the systems lifetime. This is why one data centre design approach does not work.

Manufacture independence removes the constraints Being tied to a particular brand is limiting. Using a manufacturer independent power protection supplier means you are assured of absolutely the right solution for your situation, rather than the one that is the closest match (and will just about do) from what can be offered from a particular brand a company is tied into.

Mix and match approach creates the perfect power systemThis independence creates a mix-and-match ability, which adds to the flexibility, while being able to adapt and respond to the changes in project scope which inevitably arise. Regardless of brand, every aspect of equipment is assessed for suitability from

Site survey whether for an existing or new data centre installation, this should reveal the scope and complexities of the work involved, explore the type of electrical loads, power quality issues, the electrical distribution and harmonics. Ideally, including load bank testing with a full physical inspection (including terminal connections) and optional thermal imaging to locate potential hot-spots. The results of which enables comparisons to be made between the actual results and the design specifications, so recommendations can be made to ensure the battery set and the entire operation is suitably optimised. Power continuity planning and design careful system design incorporating the need to balance resilience with the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), the need for N+1 redundancy and addressing the fine balance between operating efficiencies, energy usage, running costs and scalable cooling systems. Installation and commissioning a data centre must be properly installed and commissioned in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines and recommendation to ensure a trouble-free working life, while integrating with existing building management systems. Monitoring the ability to monitor bandwidth use, as well as energy, storage and physical

rack space gives valuable insights into how the system is operating, and sends alerts when outages or low thresholds are breached to ensure uptime and long-term health of the system. The use of DCIM software will enhance this insight by giving data centre operators the ability to run operations efficiently, while providing the ability to better manage assets, change and capacity. All wrapped up within one dashboard, DCIM software also enables power monitoring, environmental monitoring and energy management. Maintenance perceptions may be that maintenance is a nice to have rather than an essential; but the reality is by having this peace of mind and spending money initially, will ultimately result in money saved. However, be wary of the generator fuel trap, which might look more appealing than battery protection, but does not really work out cheaper in the long run.

Primed to minimise downtime, improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact, agile data centre design addresses the vital need for sustainable uptime, optimised energy consumption and power continuity in todays business environments. One approach will not suit all and using an independent specialist provider of power protection accredited to all the relevant standards (OHSAS 18001, SAFEcontractor, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) means they will take the time to understand your power continuity planning and design needs and choose absolutely the right solution for your data centre, whatever your industry.

Martin PearceSales Director, Critical PowerMob : 07791 110385 DDI : 01844 340345Email : martin.pearce@criticalpowersupplies.co.ukwww.criticalpowersupplies.co.uk

Advertorial

Agile data centre design why one approach does not work for all

switchgear, transformers and cooling technologies, and all integrated to provide a data centre with an uninterruptible power supply primed and ready to use. Rapidly advancing technologies means that these can also easily be incorporated, whether it is the latest alternative energy products, including grid tied inverters from SMA, PV panels from Kyocera and Moser Baer or selecting materials with favourable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

Existing or new, this mix and match approach should flow from end to end of the project and be further enhanced post installation through a range of monitoring and maintenance programmes to provide extensive visibility and control. Combined with the ability to work with the most competent and most relevant specialists, a manufacturer independent supplier ensures that only the best experienced and trained technicians are involved on a particular project for a particular sector.

A clear, concise methodology to efficient data centre designWhile the intricacies of power protection are complex and one strict approach does not suit all, there are some key elements that should be incorporated:

Assuring uninterrupted clean power a practical perspectiveUninterruptible Power Supplies technical manager Mike Elms looks at the practical aspects when installing a UPS, showing the importance of setting up a new UPS and its role in the installations ultimate success

Whenever a designer specifies a UPS for their critical data centre or office load, their first priorities will logically relate to the functionality and performance of the UPS itself: does it have sufficient capacity and battery autonomy for the loads requirements? Does it offer high enough availability and sufficient resilience to faults? Will TCO be reasonable, together with a sufficiently green footprint and can the system easily be scaled for future expansion?

While these are perfectly legitimate and indeed critical considerations, there are other factors that are less publicised but nevertheless equally critical to the ultimate smooth performance and success of any UPS installation. These relate to the practical aspects of setting up a UPS, from its initial transport and delivery to site, through to installation and commissioning, and then arranging an effective preventative maintenance and emergency response contract.

In this article, I want to focus on the setup factors in chronological order, so that their role in the UPS installations ultimate success becomes clearly visible. We start by preparing for delivery of the UPS equipment, and move forward from there.

Weight and space considerationsModern UPS systems allow considerably more latitude in delivery than their earlier counterparts, as they are far more compact and lightweight; bulky and heavy

expansion as well. While modern modular UPS systems facilitate scalability without impacting on footprint by allowing modules to be added to an existing frame, further expansion may eventually call for more frames to be installed.

While resolving sizing issues, the location should also be checked for other aspects of suitability. The floor must be able to bear the weight of the equipment, which should be positioned to avoid disruption and concern to nearby staff and business operations. At the same time, access to the equipment for servicing should be easy and convenient. The environment should meet any requirements specified by the UPS manufacturer, while the UPS installation itself should have minimal impact on air conditioning systems and airflow.

Other points to consider when siting the UPS include providing a safe, adequately sized location for the battery set, and the accommodation of any controlling switchgear.

Cabling and electrical installationOnce the equipment has been located on site, attention can turn to cable entry and termination. Most medium to large UPSs require bottom cable entry; this must be accommodated whether the system is to be installed in a plant room, which typically has a solid floor, or a computer room, where raised floors are more likely.

For a solid floor, a trench can be cut to lay the input and output AC cables and

UPS28


input transformers have been eliminated. Systems such as Uninterruptible Power Supplies PowerWAVE 5000/TP can deliver up to 50kVA from a 0.4m footprint, so are fairly straightforward to handle. As capacity, size and weight increase, though, more careful planning is required.

Irrespective of their size, UPS systems contain computer-type electronic components that require protection during transport. The UPS supplier should be able to recommend experienced removal contractors that can offer the air-ride suspension vehicles and specialist lifting equipment necessary.

The target location should be sufficiently sized for immediate UPS delivery, and for future

50kVAPower the PowerWAVE 5000/TP system can deliver from a 0.4m2 footprint

Computer rooms often have raised flooring, permitting containment and access for computer equipment network and power cabling

battery DC cables, and run them beneath the cabinet for connection to the UPS terminals. Alternatively, the UPS cabinet can be mounted on a steel plinth of sufficient height to allow satisfactory cable bend radii through 90. This is particularly important for sizeable UPSs with large cross sectional area cables.

Computer rooms often have raised flooring, permitting containment and access for computer equipment network and power cabling, and sometimes to facilitate underfloor cooling. These provide convenient routes for the UPS power and battery cables, which can be brought into the UPS cabinets via bottom access. The UPSs weight, especially if it contains batteries, may be enough to require a steel plinth to distribute the load. The plinth stands on the subfloor and is adjusted until its upper surface is flush with the raised floor surface.

Performing the electrical installation is a task for experienced and qualified electrical contractors, employed either from recommendation or by the UPS supplier. In either case, references and evidence of previous successful installations should be sought and obtained. All installation work must be carried out in strict accordance with the manufacturers instructions and strict compliance with prevailing local electrical installation legislation.

The electricity supply required by high power UPS equipment will have a significant impact on the existing cabling and switchgear, so careful integration with these will be necessary. However, detailed planning at this stage will be rewarded by time and cost savings in the future if it ensures adequate provision for any potential business growth and extra UPS capacity. An integrated, purpose-designed panel incorporating input and output switchgear for each UPS cabinet, together with a system

29


isolator and wrap-around bypass switch can reduce the system design burden, simplify cabling and shorten cable runs. It also minimises design and implementation complexity, saving time and costs.

When designing the power feeds from the UPS units to the distributed components of the critical load, it is important to choose electrical circuit routes and circuit breaker sizing that provide satisfactory discrimination downstream of the UPS system. This is to ensure that a single load fault only trips its local protection device, without unnecessarily shutting down wider sections of the power system and needlessly losing productivity.

An external maintenance bypass switch should also be provided, allowing the entire UPS system to be physically and electrically isolated for a swap-out or move without interrupting power to the load.

April 2016 MCP

Also, to ensure personnel safety and equipment protection, correct earthing is essential. All earthing points within the UPS circuits must be connected to a properly planned and secure earthing system (see below).

Commissioning and load bank testingThese steps to UPS installation should be complemented by equal care with commissioning. The small additional investment necessary to use the UPS suppliers trained and experienced technicians is more than offset by a number of benefits. These include a thorough check of the entire system installation, acceptance of environmental conditions and complete warranty cover on all UPS equipment. All equipment serial numbers will be registered with the supplier, and the UPS user will be trained in the operation of their system.

Load bank testing should be used to validate operational performance and prove battery autonomy under full load. It is recommended to perform the load bank test one week after commissioning as voltages across the battery blocks have equalised and the battery is fully charged.

The steps above are logical, and, provided qualified technicians are available, simple to perform. However in Uninterruptible Power Supplies experience of helping customers specify and install UPS systems, they provide a vital complement to the UPSs technological features in establishing a successful and durable power protection solution.

Accordingly, from a projects outset, discussions between UPS users and potential suppliers should encompass not only the equipments technical specifications and maintenance support contracts, but also the practical aspects of how the UPS system is to be set up on the users premises, and how the supplier can advise and help with this process. l

upspower.co.uk

Discussions should encompass not only the e

Mission Critical Power

Documents

Transcript of Mission Critical Power