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ISSUE 15: February 2018

33 In an underground bunker, experts gathered

to discuss the latest high-tech weapon in the fight for better DC performance

08 Mis sion critic al site s must prepare for cyber

att acks; re search reveals serious vulnerabilitie s in infrastruc ture

44 Sowing the seeds for a c arbon neutral

dat a centre : Blue Chip t ake s sust ainabilit y to new levels

Branching outHow Blue Chip is sowing

the seeds for a carbon-neutral data centre

ViewpointMicrogrids for data

centres: could nuclear power be an option?

IN THIS ISSUE 3

missioncriticalpower.uk February 2018 MCP

Front coverStarline

Healthy option Residual current monitoring technology could help maximise availability of healthcare facilities

Smart grid evolution

How can data centres benefit from engaging with a dynamic capacity

market and ensure resilience?

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20

14

16

Keeping your cool The di� erence between heat removal and cooling and why this trend shows no sign of abating

30

To subscribe please contact: missioncriticalpower.uk/subscribe

Comment 4

News 6

Infrastructure Security 8

Smart Grids 16

UPS 22

Data Centre Optimisation 26

Cables & Connections 28

Cooling & Air Movement 30

Energy Storage 40

Data Centre Infrastructure 44

Products 47

Q&A 50

Hidden threat Mission critical infrastructure is at risk of being targeted by cyber attacks. But are critical

sites adequately prepared?

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44 missioncriticalpower.uk

ISSUE 15: February 2018

33 In an underground bunker, experts gathered

to discuss the latest high-tech weapon in the fight for better DC performance

08 Mis sion critic al site s must prepare for cyber

att acks; re search reveals serious vulnerabilitie s in infrastruc ture

44 Sowing the seeds for a c arbon neutral

dat a centre : Blue Chip t ake s sust ainabilit y to new levels

COMMENT4


In this issue, Gareth Spinner, from Noveus, argues that "the data centre with its own generation could be part of a more socialised community energy scheme and support the regeneration of communities and the ambition for more efficient homes". So could the data centre move away from a self-serving energy consumer to a sustainable 'prosumer' that works to enhance local communities?

There are certainly examples of large-scale data centres already adopting this principle of becoming part of a 'more socialised energy scheme'. In Denmark, Apple is seeking to make extensive use of renewable energy, while also giving back to the community.Excess heat generated by the data centre will be captured and returned to the local district's heating system, which will warm up homes in the community.In Stockholm, heat generated by data centres is also helping to warm homes in the city of more than 900,000 people. There are also programmes, on varying scales, in Finland, the US, Canada, and France.

Data centres are becoming increasingly aware of their corporate responsibility and Blue

Chip is taking part in carbon off-setting to minimise its impact on the environment, through a tree planting programme, while also helping to regenerate the local area. I recently visited

its 'Tier IV by design' data centre and learned how the

company is striving to meet a challenging target of being carbon neutral.

There are also opportunities for data centres to help ensure the sustainability of the grid, while reducing their energy bills and adding additional resilience. Microgrids provide a power option in remote regions that cannot access primary grid systems or in cases of macrogrid failure, as well as an opportunity for technology users to maximise their energy financials by using on-site generation to meet a portion of their energy consumption. ABB explains that microgrids can operate like demand response systems, using utility pricing data to signal to the user when to turn on their local generation resources in order to avoid consumption at peak times. Ian Bitterlin believes that, for many data centres, a completely ‘off-grid’ microgrid is not yet an attractive option, but what is possible is onsite generation with utility backup. This, he argues, is especially attractive if the source of that energy is renewable. He goes on to explore the potential for nuclear powered microgrids to minimise carbon output. He argues that this could "make an excellent base-load generation source that will enable the maximum possible utilisation of intermittent renewables such as solar, wind and tidal".

Demand response is another example where data centres have the potential to become part of a more 'socialised community energy scheme' and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the grid. We want to understand the barriers, opportunities and possible solutions, from your perspective, and are issuing a survey to our readers. This will inform an in-depth report that will discuss demand response in mission critical sites. We look forward to sharing with you the key insights from our survey.

Louise Frampton, editor

From consumer to 'prosumer'

EditorLouise [email protected]: 020 34092043m: 07824317819

Managing EditorTim [email protected]

Design and productionPaul [email protected]: 07790 434813

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

Commercial managerDaniel CoyneT: 02037517863 M: 07557109476E: [email protected]

Circulation [email protected]

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MCP February 2018

The report concludes that with 2,600MW of new wind farms in development and a similar amount of solar PV in the grid connection process, there is "sure to be sufficient new renewable energy capacity to feed the growth of the data industry, if these industries grow together as expected".

Colocation providers were also asked why they chose to locate to Ireland. Some established a presence in Ireland in the late 1990s, and have steadily grown their business there. However, the main reasons cited for setting up in Ireland and Dublin, in particular, are:• Off-island fibre connectivity

and the T50 (diverse Dublin fibre ring)

• Clustering effect and critical mass

• Power availability and reliability (not price)

• Political stability• Accessibility• Open and transparent

planning• An educated and native

English-speaking workforce

Visit hostinireland.com

NEWS & COMMENT6

missioncriticalpower.ukMCP February 2018

Host in Ireland, a strategic global initiative created to increase awareness of the benefits of hosting digital assets in Ireland, has released a report on: Ireland’s Data Hosting Industry.

The research study, created in collaboration with Bitpower and partly funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, examines the opportunities and challenges associated with the digital asset hosting industry in Ireland.

The report also attempts to establish a baseline of the size, by category and sustainability, of Ireland’s data centre industry, addressing the scale of energy in use, requested and predicted over the period from 2017 to 2024. In 2016, the total energy use for all operational data centres in Ireland was estimated to be 1.40 TWh. Ireland’s total electricity use in 2016 was 27.6 TWh. By way of illustration, the world’s data centres used 416.2 TWh in 2016, of which Ireland’s data centre energy use represented 0.34% of the industry total.

By analysing the different

Renewables will be key to Ireland’s data centre growth

Modularity is a key design approach for today’s data centres, helping to drive trends such as edge computing and hyper-convergence, while reducing both deployment times and capital expenditure costs. Although long familiar at component and rack level, modularity is increasingly being extended to include larger blocks of equipment or pods which comprise groups of IT racks sharing critical infrastructure components such as a PDU (power distribution unit), network router and cooling systems including containment and air handling.

More recently, modularity has been

taken to an even higher level, the Pod Frame, which incorporates many elements typically associated with the building itself into a free-standing structure to allow faster deployment of IT equipment racks. A new White Paper from Schneider Electric analyses the benefits of deploying Pod Frames compared with existing practices. The report compares the rollout of IT equipment using traditional pods with a similar sized deployment using Pod Frames from the point of view of cost and time taken.

A comparative analysis of a data centre deployment using an IT Pod Frame versus one using a traditional

pod was conducted using a Schneider Electric Reference Design for a room with a 1.3MW lT load. The load consisted of nine pods, each having 24 racks. The study showed that when utilising the IT Pod Frame CapEx savings of 15% were achieved when compared to a traditional approach. Most of these were attributed to the reductions in labour cost. In terms of speed of deployment, the Pod Frame approach produced a saving of 21%, or 66.5 days compared with 84 days using the traditional approach.

The white paper is available for download by visiting: http://www.apc.com/wp?wp=263

Analysis shows CapEx saving for pod frames

types of data centres, and documenting the energy efficiency and best practices in data centre design and operations, the report will act as a useful reference for policymakers when looking to provide context to the growing global requirement for data centres, as a ‘Connected Planet’ becomes a reality.

“Data has a much higher economic value than the energy that powers it, and all stakeholders should recognise this when trying to evaluate

the sustainability of the data centre industry in Ireland,” comments David McAuley, founder and CEO, Bitpower, and Host in Ireland Advisory Council member. “As Ireland’s Data Hosting Industry 2017 report indicates, collaboration between data centre operators, state utilities and agencies, and renewable energy developers will be key to maintaining Ireland’s position as a Tier 1 global location for hosting and participating in the next wave of growth.”

The report says there is ‘sure to be sufficient new renewable energy capacity to feed the growth of the data industry’

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News in briefOffshore battery storage projectABB will provide Woodside, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, with a PowerStore battery storage system that is capable of remote management of operations and service. The ABB Ability PowerStore battery storage system will replace one of the six existing gas turbine generators and will also reduce the need for using the emergency diesel generator. Short-term backup will be provided via the new battery energy storage system incorporated within the microgrid, to provide a ‘spinning reserve’. A dedicated ABB Ability Microgrid Plus control system will act as the brain of the solution.

Backup for Welsh emergency services MPower UPS part of the Centiel Group, has been appointed to manage UPS maintenance at North Wales Police and Fire Service. MPower will now look after North Wales Police’s head-quarters in Colwyn Bay and district head-quarters at Caernarfon and Wrexham plus the UPS at Rhyl Fire Station.

Accelerating UPS salesPiller is to supply MAX IV Laboratory, a world-leading Swedish electron accelerator research facility, with uninterruptible power for its highly sensitive and sophisticated research equipment. The new Piller system is a 7.5 MVA medium voltage rotary UPS expandable to 12.5 MVA, with kinetic energy storage. The MAX IV-laboratory in Lund, Sweden, is the brightest source of x-rays worldwide. The centre has been attracting researchers from around the world ever since its launch in 2016.

Teraco, in collaboration with Stulz, has won recognition for increasing its energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint in a very challenging climate at the Isando Data Centre 7 in Johannesburg. The company was presented with the 'Energy Efficiency Improvers Award', at the DCD 2017 awards, held at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel, in December. Approximately 700 guests gathered to celebrate the hotly contested awards, which received more than 200 entries from 30 countries.

Brendan Dysel, head of infrastructure management at Teraco, commented: “The ambient conditions in South Africa provide great challenges to meet data centre efficiencies deemed the norm in global circles. The Stulz partnership with Teraco proved most successful and the DCD award for Energy Efficiency Improvers Award speaks volumes. The benchmark has been set and the engineering teams will now continue to improve on our current designs and sustainable operations.”

There was stiff competition from DigiPlex (Norway), Liberty Global in the UK and vXchnge in US. Teraco is the first provider of resilient, vendor neutral data environments in South Africa and is leading the way in the region by making energy efficiency one of its highest priorities.

The 27,500m2 colocation facility has a net cooling capacity of 2MW, supplied by a chilled water system which is concurrently maintainable, with three CyberCool 2 chillers (N+1) and 14 CyberAir 3 chilled water units from Stulz. Due to extremely hot summers, the ambient temperature reaches 40°C.

However, with water temperatures of 22°C/14°C Teraco is able to switchover into mix-mode at 20°C ambient temperature (approx. 5.700 h/a) to increase the energy efficiency by reducing the electrical power consumption of the chiller. The design of the installation allows the use of free cooling for approximately 65% of the year, saving a significant amount of energy (circa 45%) and reducing Teraco’s carbon footprint.

Overcoming tough climate challenges

Next generation data centre will exist ‘beyond walls’Data centre trends for this year have been identified by a global panel of experts from Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, including the emergence of the ‘Gen 4 data centre’.

The next-generation data centre will exist beyond walls, seamlessly integrating core facilities with a more intelligent, mission-critical edge of network. These Gen 4 data centres are emerging and will become the model for IT networks of the 2020s.

“The evolution of the edge, driven in large part by the adoption of the Internet of Things, is impacting the data centre industry in much the same way the introduction of the cloud did,” said Vertiv CEO Rob Johnson.

“As we saw then, the implications of such a fundamental change are far-

reaching and in some cases unpredictable. The only certainty is that expectations remain the same – seamless, immediate, uninterrupted service.”

Whether traditional IT closets or 1,500 sq ft micro-data centres, organisations increasingly are relying on the edge. The Gen 4

data centre holistically and harmoniously integrates edge and core, elevating these new architectures beyond simple distributed networks.

This is happening with innovative architectures delivering near real-time capacity in scalable, economical modules that leverage optimised thermal solutions, high-density power supplies, lithium-ion batteries, and advanced power distribution units.

Advanced monitoring and management technologies pull it all together, allowing hundreds or even thousands of distributed IT nodes to operate in concert to reduce latency and up-front costs, increase utilisation rates, remove complexity, and allow organisations to add network-connected IT capacity when and where they need it.

Cyber attacks on industrial systems can cause significantly more disruption than attacks against a typical enterprise. Mission critical sites need to be prepared. Louise Frampton reports

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the threat posed to

critical infrastructure through security flaws in software for industrial control systems (ICS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (Scada), and Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM). All of these technologies provide vital functions in critical industry sectors, yet vulnerabilities are leaving an ‘open door’ to hackers.

The attacks on power grids in Ukraine, in late 2015, seriously destabilised the country and demonstrates the importance of protecting against these types of attacks. The UK defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, recently warned that Russia could cause “thousands and thousands of deaths” by crippling UK

infrastructure. He claims that Moscow has been spying on energy supplies which, if cut, could cause “total chaos”. The warning came after the chief of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, reported that Russia had already staged attacks against Britain’s media, telecommunications and energy sectors. The country’s national critical infrastructure must be prepared for future threats.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently demonstrated the capability of ransomware to take down the critical infrastructure of major cities, while presenting at the 2017 RSA Conference in San Francisco. Researchers created a proof-of-concept ransomware (LogicLocker) that, in a simulated environment, was

able to gain control of a water treatment plant and threaten to shut off the entire water supply or poison a city’s water by increasing the amount of chlorine in it.

The routine use of unsupported, legacy operating systems, such as Windows XP, poses a particular risk in some critical sectors with ageing infrastructures. In healthcare, for example, there is the potential to hack into medical devices such as infusion pumps or tamper with doses of radiation.

Last year, security researcher company Positive Technologies found vulnerabilities in leading software designed for automation equipment in power, water, oil and gas, food, automobile, construction and other industries. If not patched, the vulnerabilities posed a

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potential risk of being exploited to disrupt operations at thousands of plants around the world. Positive Technologies also found vulnerabilities in leading DCIM software, highlighting the threat posed to data centre infrastructure from hackers. Ilya Karpov, head of the ICS research and audit unit at Positive Technologies, comments: “DCIM platforms have the ‘keys to the kingdom’ at a data centre, since they are connected to all installed systems. A vulnerability such as this threatens the functioning of critical systems on which data centres depend: video surveillance, fire suppression, backup generators and generator control units, switches, pumps, UPS systems and precision cooling.”

The threat posed to mission critical infrastructure is all too

MCP February 2018

INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY

Hidden threat to critical infrastructure

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real and sites need to ensure they evaluate the security of their systems and take action to mitigate the risks. However, the need for continuous operation can present its own challenges.

Key challengesPositive Technologies points out that, because of the need for uninterrupted uptime of critical systems (such as industrial protocols, operating systems, and database management systems), ICS software often goes years without updates, creating a dangerous situation with an evolving threat landscape.Based on its data, more than 100 vulnerabilities in 2016 were detected in ICS components from leading manufacturers. Most of these vulnerabilities were of critical and high risk (60%), typically involving

remote code execution, denial of service, and/or information disclosure. The majority of vulnerabilities are found in dispatch and monitoring systems (HMI/Scada). As of early 2017, more than 160,000 ICS components could be accessed over the internet. The largest numbers were found in the US (31%), Germany (8%), and China (5%).

Positive Technologies highlights the importance of encryption of passwords, as unencrypted storage of passwords can result in an attacker gaining control of an ICS/Scada system. The attacker can log in, like any other user, and start affecting operations, leading to economic losses, equipment failure, or even serious accidents. By gaining passwords to databases, an attacker is able to illegitimately modify information and create the preconditions for malfunction and/or physical harm.

Mobile applicationsCyber security experts IOActive and Embedi also recently released a white paper outlining 147 cyber security vulnerabilities found in 34

and more mobile devices to ICS networks, highlighting the need to pay attention to the security of Scada mobile applications, “before it is too late”.

Jason Larsen, principal security consultant at IOActive, comments: “This latest white paper reinforces the fact that mobile applications are increasingly riddled with vulnerabilities that could have dire consequences on Scada systems that operate industrial control systems. The key takeaway for developers is that security must be ‘baked in’ from the start. It saves time,

the vulnerabilities, and they don’t need to directly target ICS control applications either. If the smartphone users download a malicious application of any type on the device, that application can then attack the vulnerable application used for ICS software and hardware. What this results in is attackers using mobile apps to attack other apps.”

“Developers need to keep in mind that applications like these are basically gateways to mission critical ICS systems,” adds Yushkevich. “It’s important that application

The flaws we found were shocking, and are evidence that mobile applications are being developed and used without any thought to security

Airbus Cyber Security is investigating potential threats and developing defensive technologies

mobile applications used in tandem with Scada systems.

The technical details of the research were released by Alexander Bolshev, security consultant for IOActive, and Ivan Yushkevich, information security auditor for Embedi, in the paper: Scada and Mobile Security in the Internet of Things Era.The researchers reveal that the number of incidents in Scada systems has increased over the past two years and the systems are becoming more interesting for attackers every year. Furthermore, the IoT is connecting more

money and ultimately helps protect the brand.”

The report reveals the top five security weaknesses are: code tampering (94% of apps), insecure authorisation (59% of apps), reverse engineering (53% of apps), insecure data storage (47% of apps) and insecure communication (38% of apps).

“The flaws we found were shocking, and are evidence that mobile applications are being developed and used without any thought to security,” says Bolshev. “It’s important to note that attackers don’t need to have physical access to the smartphone to leverage

developers embrace secure coding best practices to protect their applications and systems from dangerous and costly attacks.”

IOActive and Embedi informed the impacted vendors of the findings through responsible disclosure, and are coordinating with a number of them to ensure fixes are in place.

The myth of ‘air gapping’Recent research has demonstrated that ‘air-gapping’ systems (ie creating a physical gap between the control network and the »

68%of boards have not received

training on how to deal with a cyber incident, yet half

believe it is a ‘top risk’

business network) is not the answer to protecting critical infrastructure from potential cyber-attacks.

A security research team at CyberX recently shattered the ‘myth of the air-gapped ICS network’, by demonstrating a potential hack (‘Exfiltrating Reconnaissance Data from Air-Gapped ICS/Scada Networks’, Black Hat Europe 2017). VP of research David Atch and security researcher George Lashenko showed how by injecting specially crafted ladder logic code into Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), a hack can generate encoded radio signals that can then be received by ordinary AM radios in order to exfiltrate sensitive data from air-gapped networks. This technique could be used to exfiltrate corporate trade secrets such as proprietary formulas, military secrets such as nuclear blueprints, and reconnaissance data for use in future destructive attacks such as details about ICS network topologies and device configurations.

Airbus: sharing cyber security expertiseThe cyber threat posed to ICS is prompting large manufacturers to take action, across their networked enterprises and beyond the boundaries of their own organisations. Airbus is a major manufacturing organisation and, as such, ICS and IoT are an integral part of its business.

“In today’s environment, everything is interconnected, not just in an IoT sense but in terms of manufacturing, supply chain and utilities. Therefore, we want to make sure the environment that we operate in is also safe,” comments Ian Gosling, managing director of Airbus Cyber Security UK.

With this in mind, Airbus is leveraging its expert knowledge, used internally to protect the business from cyber threats, to provide an external service to other mission critical business sectors – protecting governments, military,

organisations and critical national infrastructure.

The Airbus Cyber Security Research team has spent some time investigating potential threats and developing defensive technologies in a series of joint initiatives with Cardiff, Swansea and Newport universities (the University of South Wales). Airbus is currently making significant inroads in the utilities sectors, and is currently working with a number of water authorities. However, it has also set its sights on major power generation projects.

“Unlike IoT, the ICS or Scada space has grown up from an isolated environment. However, these systems are now becoming increasingly connected,” says Gosling. “We have a situation where the clarity of the estate being protected is somewhat confused. It is important to understand what your estate is and therefore understand exactly what your vulnerabilities are. We are conducting a lot of work aimed at accelerating this understanding of the estate.

10 INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY

What is connected? What isn’t connected? What has innate vulnerabilities?”

Gosling points out that ICS and Scada are often installed for the long term and, as a result, often have old operating systems – which, by their very nature, have vulnerabilities.

“One of the difficulties with some business sectors is deciding whether they can stop the process to ensure the value of the protection being installed. This is a business risk people have to face up to. There is a downtime challenge,” Gosling continues.

Recovery planOrganisations need protection but a well thought out disaster recovery plan is also important. “The idea that you are 100% protected is nonsense – you are only mitigating risk. Part of this mitigation should be to understand fully how quickly you can recover, if you are impacted,” says Gosling. “Across a wide range of industry sectors, boardrooms

are underestimating the threat and impact of the potential challenges they face. Some of them have taken a ‘not me’ attitude.”

This trend would appear to be supported by a recent government survey of the UK’s biggest 350 companies, which found more than two thirds of boards had not received training to deal with a cyber incident (68%) despite more than half saying cyber threats were a top risk to their business (54%). Clearly, many UK organisations are underprepared. So, what needs to be done to ensure greater consideration is given to ICS cyber security risks?

Ben Worthy, senior ICS security consultant, Airbus Cyber Security, believes that the answer is a combination of legislation, cultural change and employee awareness. In his view, the EU’s Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive is also a positive step, by forcing critical infrastructure providers to put a determined cyber security strategy in place, or risk financial penalties. “The threat of being hit with a fine of up to £17m, or 4% of global turnover, will undoubtedly focus people’s minds and help to make this a board-level issue,” comments Worthy. He believes that legislation alone is not enough, however; what is needed is a security-driven mindset.

“To really effect change on the ground, we will require a vastly improved level of cyber security awareness. Employees need to be trained so that they understand what the safe behaviours are in terms of cyber security, and how to avoid taking unnecessary risks,” he concludes. l


Airbus Cyber Security is now sharing its insights into cyber threats with other mission critical business sectors

The threat of being hit with a fine of up to £17m, or 4% of global turnover, will focus people’s minds

Rolls-Royce has suggested that onsite nuclear power generation could be a viable option in the future. Ian Bitterlin discusses its feasibility for data centres

Microgrids provide a viable power option in remote regions

that cannot access primary grid systems, as well as providing an opportunity for technology users to maximise their energy plan by using onsite generation to meet a proportion of their energy consumption. Microgrids can also operate like demand response systems, using utility pricing data to signal to the user when to turn ‘on’ their onsite generation resources to avoid consumption at peak times. This produces a variety of options which include energy availability, supply security, alternative fuel-mix and energy cost reductions.

Touted as a feasible solution to a wide range of contemporary energy supply issues, such as energy security/supply and climate change mitigation, microgrids are receiving increased attention as a means to power commercial enterprises, including the data centre.

Of course, microgrids that increase the carbon footprint of the national electrical power generation system are, on the face of it, a negative development. The obvious example that is already used is demand (or frequency) response contracts that can be applied to data centre emergency standby generators.

In many locations such contracts (like Short Time Operating Reserve (STOR)) offer financial incentives, both through a capacity reservation fee (eg £25k/MW/year) for -100 hours usage per year and a payment at high rate per kWh for the utility draw avoided. However, in all grids the carbon emissions from combustion of diesel fuel-oil on site is higher per kWh of electricity generated than all carbon fuels (other than brown-coal) in power stations, even considering the transmission and distribution losses. For example, in the UK our utility generation is dominated by natural gas, which we combust in combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) at a thermal efficiency of ~57% and lose ~7% in station-consumer

distribution, so, overall, we achieve a 50% thermal efficiency.

Comparing this to the 35% of diesel standby generators shows that the net carbon footprint is increased when the STOR contract is enabled. The justification for this is that the STOR is only enabled when the grid is under pressure and having to start up reserve plant in a power station generates more carbon than that emitted by the site generators.

However, in the past several years in the UK, STOR has rarely been activated, despite repeated annual warnings that we are in danger of rolling blackouts every winter.

But not all data centres find the STOR proposition attractive. The most commonly held view is that generator power comes with increased risks and the onsite generation is installed to protect the facility from the vagaries of the grid, not to support it. However, there is one limitation from the utilities point of view when it comes to data centres and that is the almost universal data centre feature of partial load.

Most STOR arrangements ‘island’ the facility rather than run the gensets in parallel with the utility and with the critical load connected. The usual combination of partial

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load and generator redundancy leads to the generators often running on load at less than 30% capacity.

This means, for example, that a data centre may have 1MW of installed gensets but when in island-mode only relieve the utility by 300kW of load.

So, what other onsite options are there that are based on a carbon-reduction basis? There is the option of running bio-fuelled (preferably biogas for low NOX and SOX emissions) generators but the availability is lower than the utility (with genset maintenance taking 2% per year) and thereby needing a fully rated utility connection for standby.

MCP February 2018

VIEWPOINT

Microgrids for data centres: could nuclear power be an option?

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Microgrids for data centres: could nuclear power be an option?

The maintenance costs are high and the scheme can never approach the economy of utility power while fuel supply and storage on site is always a difficult design and logistical problem. We can then consider onsite solar PV and wind.

It is easy to discount solar PV to little more than a token percentage of data centre energy demand on the grounds of solar-insolation of 1kW/m2, low cell conversion efficiency of 15-20% and intermittence. Each m2 (ie of roof space) in southern UK will deliver little more than 600kWh/year – equivalent to <70W/m2 over 8,760 hours, perhaps 1% of what is needed for a typical 5kW/cabinet data centre.

For onsite wind power the data centre clearly needs to be in a rural location (where planning would be granted, no easy passage) and have land to spare for siting turbines. Taking the design to the obvious limit, where the data centre can claim to be 100% renewably powered by wind, produces an interesting problem regarding the utility connection. Firstly, the facility will have to have either a utility connection or a very large energy storage system, or emergency generators with diesel-fuel as the energy store, for when the wind doesn’t blow.

Alternatively, it can install turbines that can generate as much energy over a full year that the data centre takes to run it and use the grid as the energy storage buffer. Onshore wind turbines can be relied upon to generate 33% of their capacity over a full seasonal year so a 2MW facility would have to install 6MW of turbines. When the wind does not blow sufficiently hard to turn the turbines the facility will draw 2MW from the utility. As the wind strength increases the power draw from the utility will reduce to zero but as the wind strengthens further the turbines will feed the load and generate up to 4MW into the utility.

There will come a point (often, depending upon site location and exposure) when the wind strength exceeds the

turbine’s safe operating speed and the array will brake to a standstill – whereupon the facility will be drawing 2MW from the utility again. So, the data centre operator must pay for an oversized 4MW utility connection to export/sell the excess energy. Although the facility will be net-zero on generation vs utility it will often be consuming utility power that has a carbon-content related to the national fuel-mix. The reader has to consider this fuel profile and reach their own conclusion.

It is probably worth mentioning that all ‘renewables’ do have an embedded carbon content due to infrastructure – such as concrete dams, submerged biomass in reservoirs, wind-turbine machines and foundations, solar silicon-cells and connection towers, foundations and cables, but what else ‘could’ we do regarding microgrids for data centres that are very low carbon content? Well, in a series of lectures by Rolls-Royce at the IET, a presentation on ‘small’ nuclear reactors pointed to a possible solution.

Nuclear solutionNuclear fission reactors, such as those deployed in our nuclear submarine fleet, are ‘small’ for microgrids (eg 15-20MW), highly available (like a utility connection), not intermittent, safe (we can argue that to the cows come home but morbidity rates for nuclear power are far lower than coal based power), fuelled-for-life (20-25 years) and very low carbon.

They make an excellent base-load generation source that will enable the maximum possible utilisation of intermittent renewables such as solar, wind and tidal.

Let’s not pretend that the future is going to be easy with many choices. Recently Stephen Hawking predicted that civilisation as we know it will end in 2600 due to a combination of over-population and energy shortage – and I for one am not willingly going to argue with his level of vision and intellect. l

Nuclear fission reactors, such as those deployed in our nuclear submarine fleet, are ‘small’ for microgrids (eg 15-20MW), highly available (like a utility connection), not intermittent, safe, fuelled-for-life (20-25 years) and very low carbon

We often take for granted the infrastructure

necessary to support our increasingly digitised and interconnected world. This demand for bandwidth is only growing, and with it so is the demand for power.

Mission critical facilities need to be larger to accommodate more servers, and facilities managers need to be able to quickly address this constant need for additional capacity. In order to support the extra elements required, worldwide IT spending on servers, power and cooling, and management/administration has rapidly increased in the past decade. But other than just an increase in costs, the need for a higher voltage of power poses additional challenges.

To accommodate this need, overhead power distribution systems emerged within the data centre arena within the past decade or two, and quickly began rising to the challenge of providing increasing amperages of power.

Past power: “The way it always was”When building a data centre, power and cooling are two of the top priorities. Historically, raised floors, or concrete tiles installed onto a steel grid resting on stanchions above a slab floor, have been deployed for cooling purposes. The perforated tiles that make up the floor allow for cool air to flow out of the below passage and onto the server racks.

However, this underfloor area also houses whips and cables that supply power to the racks. As a data centre space grows, more server racks are installed which require more power, in turn creating more and more cables under the raised floor; ultimately restricting the flow of cool air and completely contradicting the purpose of the excess space to begin with.

Over time many have realised this drawback of the traditional underfloor method, as well as various others, including the fact that raised floors are costly; maintenance is required to


remove unused cables, which tend to be abandoned; and risk of human error while working with circuit breakers and cables that are not clearly associated with a given load.

Higher, sustainable powerOverhead power distribution – otherwise known as busway systems – directly combat the traditional power solution of whips and cables beneath a raised floor. These systems have been proven to be both scalable and sustainable solutions to providing power.

Select busway systems also

MCP February 2018

Overhead busway systems allow for more usable space in the data centre for IT equipment

provide a continuous access slot to power – meaning that a data centre space will always be prepared for future reconfigurations or expansion. Power can be tapped at any location with a variety of plug-in units, eliminating panel boards, long runs of conduit and wire and expensive installation costs for dedicated power outlets.

With an overhead bus system there is no need to work on live panels or schedule outages to add, move or change outlets. Busway systems eliminate the need to remove and scrap short or undersized cable whips

Raising the bar for higher powerThe advantages of overhead power distribution in data centres

15


COVER STORY

About Universal Electric (manufacturer of Starline)With offices in both Pittsburgh, PA and Reading, England, Universal Electric Corporation, a pioneer in electrical power distribution since 1924, is a world leader in the development of customisable power distribution systems. Industry innovators for more than 85 years, the company’s premium, flexible products are designed to fit the electrical power needs of any business in any industry. As one of the only companies dedicated exclusively to flexible power distribution products, Universal Electric’s award-winning Starline products have revolutionised electrical power distribution in data centres, industrial manufacturing facilities, retail chains, higher education and healthcare facilities worldwide. For more information, visit: starlinepower.com

and run new longer or larger ones. Therefore, the risk of unintended potential power outages is avoided and racks can be installed or moved without disrupting operations.

Busways are highly sustainable systems: they can be used for years and years and create much less material waste than the traditional whips and cables method does. Also, in order to cope with today’s ever-increasing server densities, an increase in kW power density is needed, which equates to a related increase in cooling requirements. Before, this would mean additional power cables under the floor that obstruct air flow and as a result make cooling more difficult. With an overhead busway system this threat is eliminated – making it an extremely energy efficient and safe method for distributing power.

Flexible and scalableIt is often difficult to know the exact electrical design needed at the beginning of a project. This can result in the need to

reconfigure electrical outlets and their locations, which increases costs and causes schedule delays.

With a scalable overhead busway system, components and power circuits can be added as needed – without tying up capital and wasting resources – rather than building out the entire facility in the beginning. This is very beneficial for colocation and other facilities that are built out over time. It also means that the cost of maintenance is automatically dropped for the long run, as there is no need to reconfigure electrical outlet locations and types.

Increased usable spaceWith data centre floor space at a premium, every square foot is critical. Overhead busway systems eliminate RPPs, which result in more usable space in the data centre for IT equipment and server racks. In addition, miles of power cables are eliminated when power outlets or drops can be located exactly where they are needed.

Monitored power usageIn a data centre it is especially important to accurately monitor the amount of power being used. Uptime is everything for mission critical environments, and as a result unplanned outages must be avoided at all costs. Premium overhead power distribution systems are capable of incorporating metering units at both the feed and circuit breaker level. Power and energy measurements are captured instantaneously, providing the granular data necessary to make informed

must pre-plan every outlet. Because it is nearly impossible to predetermine the power requirements for each rack in each location when a data centre goes live – let alone plan for future requirements – this will result in expensive and time consuming changes that will have to occur in the future. However, with a flexible, adaptable busway system, future changes that require expensive labour charges and potential outages are completely avoided.

With the world around us becoming more and more dependent on the internet, it is clear that the need for additional bandwidth is only going to increase. This additional bandwidth results in more and larger mission critical facilities and infrastructure, which require more power. To address this challenge in the most efficient way possible, it is essential to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology available, as opposed to facing the needs of the future with the solutions of the past. l

Components and power circuits can be added as needed

decisions such as enabling phase balancing as needed.

Further potential metering functionality includes optional display, daisy-chain ethernet to save on network switch ports, alarm functions and remote communication via an integrated webpage. Having all of these capabilities included within your power distribution system makes it simple for data centre managers to intelligently track usage and plan for the future.

Installation and cost savingsAside from the features and benefits offered by busway manufacturers, this type of system provides immediate monetary advantages in terms of installation and future costs. The installation of traditional methods is labour intensive in nature and very costly. Compared with installing a raised floor and hundreds or thousands of whips and cables, busway installation is very simple and not time or labour intensive.

When designing a data centre with traditional electric systems, engineers or designers

Gareth Spinner at Noveus offers an insight into the smart grid and explores some of the key issues and considerations for data centres that are looking to engage with a dynamic capacity market in the future

The current methodology for how capacity is provided and managed

in the UK is regulated and the methodology for connections and pricing likewise. This is straightforward for existing connected customers and

problematic for those who need capacity that is not readily available and comes at a very high cost. The electricity networks tend to be overstretched in pockets and on times of day rather than all the time, as much of the

capacity that is contracted is not used as demand fluctuates depending on the time of day and many large consumers are not operating at full consumption.

The vision of the smart grid and smart information is that

16


more local generation and load can be managed dynamically, to facilitate time of day demand such as charging EVs or home batteries when it best fits the grid and hence a real-time pricing methodology for energy and network charges which could better reflect cost and avoid at least in part ever increasing taxes. Network investment could also be mitigated.

How might a dynamic capacity market work?The potential market comes from analysis of a regulated network or specific parts to discover if capacity is in short supply. Where this is the case, a number of businesses that are sitting on capacity are approached to understand what the buyout price might be to release capacity to

MCP February 2018

SMART GRIDS

Smart grid evolution: potential of a dynamic capacity market

17


another customer. The value customers place on capacity will vary greatly as any other commodity, based on time of day or seasonally.

With this information, customers who might need capacity are sought and where a deal can be done a tripartite arrangement is arranged. The DNO is then approached and the capacity swapped, subject to any works that may be necessary.

Smart grid InnovationThe DNOs currently see themselves very much as facilitators for ensuring electricity is provided to the customer; a conduit to get power from the generator to the customer at the point of supply. In commercial matters quite neutral. The DNO has a tried-and-tested financial

model on how they will be paid for providing the network, through Use of System charges, established in 1990 when privatisation happened.

The DNOs are not likely to want to change the pricing methodology, which has delivered steady and secure income to their shareholders for 27 years, and rather than get involved in discussion on a change they are encouraging load customers, and potentially generators, to work together to agree how they might free up capacity for the benefit of growth or to allow others to connect.

Clearly the customer that has paid for their connection and capacity does not want to give that up without recompense; they can declare down on maximum demand and save on capacity charges but most know that this capacity has value. So trading capacity is being encouraged by the DNOs.

It is equally possible for a large customer to agree connections to their network and in effect release some capacity without reference to the DNO but this carries with it the risk of failure and support services on their own network and these liabilities are likely to make this scenario unpalatable.

The smart grid can facilitate this type of deal quickly and as there are no rules around what the cost of a deal would be and as a result it is exposed to the free market, it is questionable if the trading scenario is in the spirit of a publicly licenced and operated network.

The dynamic capacity market would be seeking to find the capacity commodity to trade, and therefore balance capacity and demand. Its participants could actively

apply for capacity on any part of a publicly licenced network and secure capacity (at relatively low cost); then market this capacity to the highest bidder, sell part of the capacity or a site with the electricity capacity attributed.

Would the DNO or DSO treat a dynamic capacity market participant any differently to a ‘real’ customer requiring capacity? The DSO may actively support this approach if more customers were connected and the Use of System income were increased for them.

How could a smart grid facilitate a dynamic capacity market?We could visualise the possible smart grid; information on every connected piece of equipment is accessible to determine in real time what generation is required to satisfy demand, that capacity is available on the network and this is immediately switchable and controlled.

The ability to use smart technology to create information for a capacity market is clearly there with access to network and load information that currently is not captured or available. The smart grid roll out will not function without the requisite data collection. When in place, without data security, it would be possible to discover who has capacity in real time and seek options on capacity when it is needed, the two parties buying and selling agree and a deal is struck. The potential market could facilitate this.

So what would be needed to make this possible? The smart grid will not only have a smart meter on every point of supply

but also inherently for network reasons many data points for monitoring asset condition and load. Customers forecast load requirements with time of day shape for their energy commodities could also show availability on a dedicated platform.

RegulationCurrently, the DNOs and IDNOs are each formulating their own ideas on what their smart grid or DSO would be like, seeking views from manufacturers on technology and customers on needs while maintaining a stance of being a facilitator to provide cables through which electricity can flow. They provide contracts for absolute capacity to customers, who in turn have the confidence that capacity to run their business will always be there. Without a committed capacity the business model of a data centre is not complete; the reliability and security is also fundamental to a secure DC.

The regulator is driving the DNOs for innovation to make networks more efficient (keeping losses down, fault rates down and interruptions to supply low) to avoid investment and keep bills for customers down and therefore there is a lot of discussion. So this drives a certain behaviour around technology and devices that will sense equipment condition, predict failure, estimate life expectancy and fault finding. However, is it right that this should be driven by technology companies? Is it right that the evolution is left to chance?

The regulator has a duty to ensure the licenced energy suppliers and network

The lack of capacity based on every consumer having an absolute amount of capacity whenever they need it is not going to be possible but if all consumers’ requirements are ‘pooled’ at local level a high degree of diversity could be possible and with smart solutions electricity could be delivered to where it is needed when it is needed

»

18 SMART GRIDS

operators adhere to their licenced conditions and their vision of a smarter network leans to drive higher access and lower costs for customers. Where the smart grid is based on a carbon free dynamic; is it reasonable for the DSO to evolve using the same set of rules that apply to a benign electricity network?

Would customers expect the Regulator to anticipate how they are stimulating the smart grid evolution and establish new rules for the DSO? Should there be controls on access to information and data security and customer privacy?

The regulator should consider if a dynamic capacity market in the public interest and should the control of the Smart grid information be regulated to prevent abuse?

What does the DC do?For the DC, there is an absolute need for security of data for every customer, and resilience that information is always available on demand. This requires huge levels of certainty with backup plans for the ‘what if’ moments when a disaster happens; the electricity market evolution is a long way from providing certainty.

The lack of capacity based on every consumer having an absolute amount of capacity whenever they need it is not going to be possible but if all consumers’ requirements are ‘pooled’ at local level a high degree of diversity could be possible and with smart solutions electricity could be delivered to where it is needed when it is needed.

The DC operators can,

of course, take action themselves and consider different solutions. The grid connectivity carries large capacity charges but generally the grid connection is the prime source of power. Standby generation is the backup to their ever present reliable grid connection, under the DSO the inter-changeability of which source is used becomes easier and the level of available capacity could be traded.

What then for the DC that has an absolute requirement for power when it is needed? Does the DC strategy change from each site having back up supply beyond N+1 to having prime generation supply, grid charge avoidance and even duplicate data storage on

disparate sites?Would a DC consider

buying capacity from a market participant, if this were cheaper than a grid connection requiring reinforcement, it is possible? Should it not be the case that the DSO should be more discerning on how capacity is actively managed with the responsibility as they have the technology to actively manage it?

How the DC views generation or storage is a choice. Or is a partnership with the smart DSO the right way ahead? The DC with its own generation could be part of a more socialised community energy scheme and support the regeneration of communities and the ambition for more efficient homes. l

The dynamic capacity market would be seeking to find the capacity commodity to trade, and therefore balance capacity and demand


Safeguarding the data centres of tomorrow

Leading power protection specialist Power Control has completed a full power protection solutions project for the UK’s leading managed services provider Redcentric.

Following a full assessment of the company’s design requirements, Power Control’s proposal included the supply, install and commissioning of two modular 500kVA Huawei UPS5000-E systems with 50kW modules. The project also included the safe removal of the data centre’s existing equipment and batteries.

This fully resilient backup power solution was chosen as it not only meets the needs of today but can also be scaled to meet the requirements of the future, which was a key objective for Redcentric.

Prior to the works being carried out, the Huawei UPS5000-E UPS solution was witness tested and all UPS functions and performance were verified by an independent consultant.

Working in a live data centre environment and to extremely strict timescales, the two 500kVA Huawei UPS5000-E systems are now supporting the full data centre IT load at Redcentric’s London Data Centre in Shoreditch.

Positioned in an N+N configuration, the two new Huawei UPS5000-E solutions are already delivering significant efficiency savings and annual maintenance costs are also reduced thanks to the sophisticated design of the Huawei UPS5000-E.

Redcentric’s London Data Centre’s operations manager Bill Walsh comments: “We have been thoroughly

impressed with the specific data centre expertise demonstrated by Power Control. Working with such critical equipment within a live operational environment is no mean feat and Power Control’s engineers executed the works seamlessly. The support provided by the company throughout the project was exceptional.”

Designed specifically for the modern data centre, the Huawei UPS5000-E series is scalable for capacity expansion and redundancy to grow with business requirements. Its smart battery management, front access and intelligent hibernation design make it not just an intelligent power protection option but also highly cost efficient, reliable and flexible one.

Power Control’s product portfolio includes single phase, three phase standalone and modular UPS solutions. The technologies the company supplies are of the highest calibre and it offers complete peace of mind by bringing together the very best components to achieve industry leading performance and superior efficiency.

For further information please visit powercontrol.co.uk email [email protected] or call 0800 136993

Advertorial

Gareth Brunton, managing director of Bender UK, explains how the company’s residual current monitoring technology can reduce the need for shutdown and maximise the availability of healthcare facilities

Electrical installations in UK medical facilities are subject to periodic

inspection and testing as required under BS7671 Part 6. This can be costly and intrusive for large group two electrical installations serving critical care facilities or operating theatres. The switch-off process can also be extremely difficult to schedule with the risk of unforeseen issues when the system is switched back on and returned to service.

Maintenance teams must manage this issue to complete testing and meet statutory requirements. Failure to do so can result in danger to personnel or patients, punitive action, unplanned outages and, ultimately, system failure.

The maintenance team is also responsible for the power to critical services and is required to deal with emerging maintenance issues and faults. Consideration should be given as to how new technologies can

help it deliver the same solution and enable it to identify and action problems before they become critical.

Bender has developed a system for the continuous monitoring of the electrical infrastructure within healthcare facilities that can remove the requirement for the shutdown necessary to carry out statutory safety testing.

It can also improve availability and provide early warning of developing issues to enable predictive and preventative maintenance. Residual current monitoring systems (RCMS) also continually monitor the integrity of the electrical system, providing early warning if a problem is detected.

Most monitoring systems flag up faults only down to the standard 30 mA required for personnel protection but ultra-sensitive RCMS are designed to identify faults down to 2mA. This capability

alerts maintenance teams at a much earlier stage in their development, giving time to plan an intervention and rectify the fault instead of having to react urgently when it becomes critical. The ability to predict faults and plan service regimes means more effective use of resources and less downtime of vital high value facilities.

A TN-S system is the most common type of earthed electrical system (in TN-S the T stands for earth – the French ‘Terre’, N for neutral and S denotes that the protective (earth) and neutral conductors are separate). An IT system has no active conductor that is connected to earth. Due to the lack of a low impedance connection between the transformer star point and protective earth (PE), a high fault current does not flow when a first insulation fault occurs.

Consequently, there are no shutdowns and a single fault will not automatically prevent

20


the system from operating. However, it will trigger an alert to signal that a fault has occurred, giving early warning of an issue. In addition, when a first fault occurs within an IT system, hazardous fault currents cannot flow due to the lack of a low impedance connection between N (neutral) and PE, and therefore, the risk of fire is significantly reduced. IT systems are typically installed only in critical locations such as group two medical locations. The remaining electrical installation across any facility will usually be an earthed TN-S system.

Periodic inspection and testing dictates that the integrity of the insulation must be verified. This cannot be done without interruption to the service. Equipment and/or protective devices must be disconnected prior to insulation resistance measurement because they may not be able to withstand the test voltage used.

MCP February 2018

POWER QUALITY

Monitoring the health of electrical infrastructure

21


Often, such additional effort and the shutdown of the power supply involves high downtime costs. In addition, restarting the installation is complex or not possible at all (for example, in intensive care areas). Any switching or transferring of loads also further increases the probability of an unplanned outage.

Section 622.2 of the BS7671: 2008 wiring regulations states that a continuous monitoring system with a suitable management system can negate the need to carry out periodic inspection and testing, substituting a less intrusive process that avoids disconnection of loads. It must demonstrate that an adequate management system has been put in place to ensure that “an

effective regime of continuous monitoring and maintenance” exists.

Effective monitoringAn effective monitoring solution must conform with the requirements of BS7671 Chapter 62 Periodic Inspection and Testing, therefore a documented process of engineering activity is required.

Confirmation of the installation status can be managed by a continuous online monitoring system using RCMS in conjunction with Bender’s cloud-based reporting software – Powerscout. The system also fulfils the requirements of record keeping as detailed in Regulation 622.2.

Powerscout integrates data from Bender’s RCMS, Power

Quality Monitors (PQM) and third party universal measuring devices and is particularly suited to healthcare facilities. Powerscout continually reports on the status and condition of the site’s electrical infrastructure, enabling pro-active maintenance and preventing unplanned downtime.

The software continually collects measurements and generates user-specific reports. This detailed information provides the basis for measuring without switch-off. Used together, RCMS technology and Powerscout can provide on-demand information on the entire electrical infrastructure including the integrity of the insulation. The storage of historical data and the ability to trend systems to identify potential degradation over time meets and exceeds the requirements of an ‘adequate management system’ as defined under Regulation 622.2.

Continuous monitoring gives estate and facility managers an accurate real time picture of the entire data for single or multiple site locations, delivering all the information they need direct to a desktop or mobile device, with all measured values automatically and continuously saved.

Data can be accessed remotely only by authorised site staff or service partners through secure web interfaces. The software can be individually adjusted to the customer’s system and monitoring requirements to create a precisely tailored solution for each customer.

Importantly, the automated report on residual currents and power quality enables verification of the integrity of the system without switch off and is designed to fulfil IEC

60364-6 requirements for periodic verification of low voltage electrical installations. The safety and integrity of electrical systems within critical environments can therefore be managed without the need for shutdown and restart, with no interruption to service.

Increasing profitabilityWith RCMS, the facilities team can determine specific test intervals based on practice. This can remove, reduce or extend the test intervals for insulation resistance measurement.

Depending on the use of the equipment, it is possible to set the intervals for periodic testing involving insulation resistance measurements to suit both safety considerations and commercial operating needs. Shutdowns for conventional insulation resistance measurements, even only for short periods, are no longer required due to the specific use of RCMS. The availability of an electrical installation is increased as potentially hazardous currents are located at an early stage in the process, minimising costly, unplanned outages. Costs incurred for the insulation measurement during the periodic testing of electrical installations and equipment are also minimised as works can be planned to match the needs of the business.

Electrical safety testing and inspecting without downtime increases system availability and helps minimise unplanned outages, a significant cause of lost revenue. It is a practical and affordable solution that can enhance safety, increase profit and boost revenue. The system has already been accepted by the leading testing authorities and is being installed in hospital critical areas throughout the UK and Ireland. l

Electrical safety testing and inspecting without downtime increases system availability and helps minimise unplanned outages

Powerscout continually reports on the status and condition of the site’s electrical infrastructure

Data centre operators must continuously seek to improve electrical efficiency to counteract rising energy costs and to provide a green environment. Alan Luscombe, director at Uninterruptible Power Supplies, explains the opportunities for energy savings that can exist within a UPS installation

Data centre operators are under steady pressure to run a

facility with visibly green attributes. Not only does this become increasingly important as electricity prices inexorably rise but it also improves a data centre’s carbon footprint, in line with corporate responsibility endeavours. This contributes to an amenable working environment and enhanced relationships with

local communities, while meeting legislative pressures and incentives to create and maintain ecologically responsible businesses.

Many large undertakings, for example, qualify for participation in the Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme (Esos), an energy assessment and saving scheme run by the Environment Agency. Organisations that meet these definitions must carry

out an Esos assessment covering all their energy use, unless they have an up to date, comprehensive ISO 50001 energy management system that is certified by an accredited certification body.

Esos-compliant energy audits must identify energy saving opportunities, although these should be reasonably practical and cost-effective to implement. Participants will probably wish to implement

22


any such opportunities, provided the money saved by reduced energy use exceeds the cost of implementation. However, there is no regulatory requirement to do so.

Any participant comprising or including a data centre will almost inevitably contain a power protection system complete with an uninterruptible power supply. This can offer opportunities for energy savings depending on

MCP February 2018

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY

Going green: the role of a UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supplies’ PowerWAVE 9500DPA can start as a single cabinet with one 100 kW module, often with one more for redundancy. As the load grows, the UPS can be vertically scaled in 100kW increments by populating the cabinet up to its full 500kW capacity. Horizontal scaling is also possible, by paralleling up to six frames for a total 3MW capacity

23


the type of UPS installed, and how it is being used.

Ideally the onsite installation comprises a modern, modular design that can deliver great power efficiency, as well as other benefits, including high availability and scalability.

However, in reality many sites have older legacy systems – and these are where the energy reduction opportunities can mainly be found.

Transformerless vs legacy systemsEnergy savings arise firstly from a move to modern, transformerless technology made possible by advances in power semiconductor technology and the advent of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices. The technology is more efficient than the earlier, transformer-based designs, with an overall improvement in efficiency across the load spectrum of about 5%. This yields substantial reductions in heat losses and energy running costs.

Transformerless systems also bring the input power factor closer to unity, with less load dependence. Input current magnitude is decreased, with associated reductions in switchgear and cable sizing. In some cases, electricity running costs are also reduced.

Legacy systems are often operated below their optimum efficiency because they are not easily scalable. This lack of scalability means that, until recently, many systems were significantly oversized, to allow for the prevailing load and any expected future growth.

The graph in Figure 1 demonstrates this by showing an expected load profile that starts at 35% of the data centre capacity, with a projected

load and expected growth rate. The UPS capacity originally provided needs only to exceed the actual load slightly, because it can be increased so easily, and incrementally, as and when the load grows.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies’ PowerWAVE 9500DPA, for example, can start as a single cabinet with one 100 kW module, often with one more for redundancy. As the load grows, the UPS can

Figure 2’s example, have a high, flat efficiency/load curve, reaching 96.1% maximum at 50% load and dropping to 95.8% at 25% load.

The overall energy savings, over several years, from migrating to a modular UPS system from a poorly utilised legacy installation can be quite considerable, as Table 1 (overleaf ) shows.

Note also that the load/efficiency curves for modern,

Figure 1: Capacity waste due to oversizing in a legacy UPS system

Figure 2: Capacity waste due to oversizing in a modern modular UPS system

The overall energy savings, over several years, from migrating to a modular UPS system from a poorly utilised legacy installation can be quite considerable

growth to 90% of capacity over 10 years.

The same graph also reveals that a UPS sized for 100% data centre capacity was installed, yet in reality the load only ever reached 35%; accordingly, the UPS remained significantly underloaded, seriously impacting its efficiency over its lifespan.

A legacy UPS has a maximum efficiency of about 93% when fully-loaded, dropping to about 90% at 50% loading, and even less at the levels shown in the graph.

By contrast, the graph in Figure 2 shows how a modern, modular transformerless UPS can be applied to the same

be vertically scaled in 100 kW increments by populating the cabinet up to its full 500 kW capacity. Horizontal scaling is also possible, by paralleling up to six frames for a total 3 MW capacity. The ability to continuously ‘right-size’ the UPS capacity to the load allows users to minimise their power and cooling requirement, reducing power usage over the life of the UPS.

The modular topology benefits from the improved efficiency of transformerless technology compared with legacy transformer-based systems. Modular UPS systems such as the PowerWAVE 9500DPA, and as shown in

modular systems are designed to accommodate redundant configurations. These curves are not entirely flat, but instead produce slightly higher efficiency at partial loads. This is because UPS manufacturers recognise that modular systems are typically operated in redundant mode, so no single module will be fully loaded. For example, in an N+1 system comprising two modules in parallel and sharing the load equally, neither will ever have more than 50% loading.

Accordingly, the manufacturers have shifted the maximum efficiency performance to the actual point of use. This is reflected

Installed UPS Capacity

YearsYears

Cap

acit

y (

%)

Cap

acit

y (

%)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Waste due to oversizing

0

80

60

40

20

100

0

80

60

40

20

100

Actual load Actual load

Room capacity

Installed USP capacity

Expected load


Room capacity

Expected load

Installed USP capacity


»

24 UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY

in the curve for the 9500 DPA UPS, which, as in the example provided, peaks at 96.1% efficiency at 50% load.

Eco-modeBoosting UPS efficiency to 99% by operating it in eco-mode is also possible. However, this mode carries risk as well as improved efficiency, so it should only be used after careful consideration of the critical load and site conditions.

In eco-mode, power flows directly from the raw mains to the load, bypassing the protection and filtering provided by the UPS rectifier and inverter components. Additionally, the UPS must recognise any mains problem or failure, and switch the load to inverter to assure ongoing, clean power from the battery.

Therefore, eco-mode is a viable option only if two conditions are met:• The load is resilient to any

Ultimately, the question is whether the 2 or 3% improvement in efficiency is worth the increased risk to the critical load.

ConclusionData centre operators, which are under pressure to improve energy efficiency, may benefit from reviewing their UPS installations. It could offer opportunities for energy saving, especially if systems are based on older technologies.

Additionally, the flat efficiency/load curves offered by modern UPS systems mean that they can be deployed in redundancy mode for greater resilience, while possibly improving rather than sacrificing efficiency.

UPS systems can be run in eco-mode to further improve efficiency, but the decision to use this option depends very much on the nature of the load supported by the UPS. l


Table 1: Comparative legacy vs modular running costs for a parallel redundant UPS system supporting a 120kVA load

UPS details Legacy (2 x 120kVA) 120kVA

N+1

Modular transformerless (4 x 40kVA) 120kVA

N+1

Load (%) 50 75

Efficiency (%) 91 94.5

Critical load (kW) 96 96

Total UPS input power (kW)

106 102

Total UPS heat loss (kW)

10 6.0

UPS losses – cost per year*

£7,884 £4,730

Cooling – cost per year*

£5,380 £907

Total cost of ownership saving over five years

£13,264 £5,637

*Costs based on 9p/kWH £38,135

disturbance that could reasonably be expected from the incoming mains

• The load can ride through

the time taken for the UPS to detect a problem and transfer to inverter accordingly.

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Providing 99.9999% availability, TCN Data Hotels runs two data

centres in the north of the Netherlands, each with a capacity of approximately 50MW. However, the company also shares its knowledge and experience by developing facilities for third parties, ranging from 1MW to more than 100MW.

The data centre operator sets itself apart through low costs, economies of scale, energy efficiency, high availability, a secure and dedicated environment and good physical and virtual accessibility, anywhere, anytime.

For 18 years, TCN Data Hotels has used Vertiv UPS systems to provide its uninterruptible power supply.This has helped the operator to raise the bar for uptime, achieving six-nines availability. Although the UPS had never let TCN Data Hotels down, after almost two decades, the company wanted to upgrade to the latest developments in technology.

The solutionTCN Data Hotels opened a tender to replace its UPS systems and invited various suppliers to submit bids. Kees Loer, who is responsible for engineering at TCN Data Hotels, explains: “Reliability, excellent service and support, knowledge of what we do and energy efficiency were important criteria for us. In principle, these factors were more important than the cost. Reliability is essentially our core business because that’s what we deliver to our customers. All our equipment must, therefore, be of the highest quality so that we can guarantee the best availability for our clients.”

After thorough market research, TCN Data Hotels chose Vertiv Liebert EXL S1 systems. These UPS stood out for their transformer-free topology with up to 97% efficiency in double conversion mode. They are extremely compact and also offer reduced installation costs. Lower cooling requirements and a

variety of other factors allow clients to optimise the PUE of their data centres by using these systems.

“We were convinced of the quality and reliability of these systems because we saw how they performed during stress tests at the Customer Experience Centre in Bologna, Italy. Moreover, they are incredibly efficient even at partial load, which is the most common situation in a data centre. Energy efficiency is important for us as, after

all, every kilowatt counts,” comments Loer.

The compact size of the UPS was also identified as an advantage, as the new system is smaller than the old one. There has been no need to make any major changes to the data centre, therefore, while additional floor space is now available. TCN Data Hotels teams are working closely with Vertiv to completely replace the system without any downtime.

The resultsLoer expects that the new UPS system will allow TCN Data Hotels to further improve energy efficiency. “We’ve been working on this for several years, and we will continue to do so. We’re now well-prepared for the future as the new systems offer state-of-the-art technology, which is beneficial for reliability and availability.” l

Combining high availability with efficiency

Energy efficiency is important for us as, after all, every kilowatt counts

CASE STUDY

TCN Data Hotels is upgrading its UPS systems to transformer-free technology, capable of delivering 97% efficiency

Sheffield Hallam University is upgrading its main data centre

using state-of-the art infrastructure equipment and management software from Schneider Electric to maximise the availability, reliability and efficiency of its IT services.

Working with Advanced Power Technology (APT), an Elite Partner to Schneider Electric and specialist in

data centre design, build and maintenance, Sheffield Hallam University has undertaken work to deploy a state-of-the art highly virtualised data centre as part of a £30m building development at Charles Street in central Sheffield.

APT’s installation is based on Schneider Electric InfraStruxure integrated data centre physical infrastructure

solution for power, cooling and racking. The new facility is managed using StruxureWare for Data Centers DCIM (Data Centre Infrastructure Management) software to maximise the efficiency of data centre operations.

Sheffield Hallam University is situated on two campuses comprising 12 major buildings in the centre of the city of Sheffield. Its IT department

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operates two data centres, running as an active-active pair in which each location provides primary IT services as well as offering failover support to the other.

In terms of hardware, the university has adopted a virtualisation policy, running between 800 and 900 virtual machines on about 70 blade servers distributed across both data centres. It also has a small high-performance Beowulf compute cluster to support research projects but for the most part the main concerns for the IT department are high availability, reliability and cost.

New data centre As one of the existing data centres was located in a building whose lease was due to expire, the IT department took the opportunity presented to move the IT facility into the Charles Street development and upgrade its capabilities to improve efficiency and availability.

Following a contract tender, APT was selected to provide and install the cooling and power infrastructure equipment and the DCIM

DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

Educated approach to efficiency

hjhhjhjhjhjhjSheffield University has improved efficiency and availability with a state-of-the art virtualised data centre

infrastructure, according to Jeeps.

“We had a variety of software packages in place before,” he says. “But StruxureWare for Data Centers provides us with a much more integrated solution. As long as something has an IP address, we can see it in StruxureWare and monitor how it is working. Previously we had to go through physical switches and hard-wired cables to monitor a particular piece of equipment.”

Jeeps says that the homogenous integrated management environment proposed by APT was crucial to its winning the contract to supply the data centre infrastructure. “We kept the IT side of the contract separate from the overall development of the building,” he says. “When we studied APT’s tender we liked the clear design they presented

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software necessary to manage it efficiently. Thanks to virtualisation, the number of physical servers the university needed to maintain services had dropped from 60 devices in the older data centre to 15 in the new Charles Street facility.

“We can now run on one chassis what we would have run in three racks before,” says Robin Jeeps, project manager for Sheffield Hallam. “That makes a big difference.”

Located at the new Charles Street data centre, the IT equipment racks are installed within two APC by Schneider Electric InfraStruxure with hot aisle containment systems (HACS) to ensure an efficient and effective cooling supply.

Two 300kW free-cooling units supply chilled water to the HACS and within the equipment racks, APC InRow cooling units maintain optimum operating temperatures. The HACS segregates the cool air supply from the hot exhaust air, preventing both streams from mixing and enabling more precise control of the cooling according to the IT load’s requirement. At the same time, locating the InRow cooling units next to the servers and storage equipment also reduces the cooling energy requirement

by eliminating the need to move large volumes of air in a suspended floor space.

DCIM Improves efficiency Crucial to maintaining efficient operation is the adoption of Schneider Electric’s StruxureWare software. This marks the first time that Sheffield Hallam has had an integrated management system for monitoring all aspects of its data centres’

Educated approach to efficiency

We can now run on one chassis what we would have run in three racks before

and the consistent management of our infrastructure that it made possible.”

The new management capabilities presented by StruxureWare will allow Sheffield Hallam the flexibility to monitor its infrastructure for maximum efficiency and to manage how it makes its services available to students and researchers. Jeeps says that this will allow the university to tender for research contracts that hitherto it had not been able to do.

“We don’t currently provide cost charging or resource charging of IT services to our departments and I doubt that we ever will,” he says. “I don’t think that’s the best way for a university to operate. But if we were undertaking a research project, for example, which work on fixed funding and had to itemise how much the computing support would cost, we have the tools to do that now. We never had anything like that before.”

StruxureWare will also enable the potential for benchmarking of the overall system efficiency, especially with regard to how well the cooling infrastructure operates as a percentage of the overall power budget of the data centre. l

Eland Cables is participating in a £1m Innovate UK

grant-funded project to deliver pioneering new cable technology. The new long linear capacitor cable technology, dubbed the Capacitive Transfer System (CTS), promises to slash power loss in the UK transmission, distribution and renewable generation sectors, yielding significant economic and environmental benefits.

Invented by Enertechnos, it is supported by a select consortium of partners, including Eland Cables, in order to bring this proven concept to a real-world application.

Jean-Sébastien Pelland, director at Eland Cables, comments: “While we’re constantly asked to think more about energy efficiency in our homes and businesses, there is also a huge amount of energy lost before it even reaches us – the commercial and environmental gains of a more efficient transmission and distribution system are staggering.”

He explains that the technology is similar in theory to a traditional capacitor, where two metallic plates are separated by a dielectric material, and the charge on one plate creates a potential difference in the opposite plate.

Capacitors in their usual form will be used in electronic circuits to block DC power and allow AC power to flow unhindered – effectively working on a single point in a circuit. As existing cables ‘leak’ AC power through the insulation, resulting in cumulative losses over the cable length, the challenge has been in taking this technology and changing it from being just a single point to working as a cable would – moving this unhindered flow along a path to the terminal, while retaining the ‘look’ of a cable so as to retain as much of the existing infrastructure, machine tooling, and indeed the skillset of the installers in order to give it real-world relevance.

Innovation in capacitor cable technology could deliver huge efficiency gains. Eland Cables is working with Brunel University and the Welding Institute on a grant-funded project to tackle the problem of losses in traditional power distribution cable. The project could have a significant impact on a wide range of industries

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CABLES & CONNECTIONS

Project to slash wasted power: watts in it for data centres?

carbon emitted per kilowatt hour produced, could account for as much as 7,425,000 tonnes of carbon.

Eland Cables’ MV cable experts and ISO17025 UKAS cable test laboratory are using their extensive experience in the development and production of prototypes, blending the CTS technology

with existing cable manufacturing processes to produce a product that will deliver the performance while meeting the standards and long-term requirements of a buried power distribution cable. Beyond the prototype phase, they will then commission a full manufacturing run.

The other project partners

The statistics show just how important this technology could be: the UK currently loses approximately 27 terawatt hours (around 7.6%) of the power it generates during transmission and distribution. This equates to £1.1bn spent annually on wasted power, and based on the 2016 average carbon intensity of 275g of

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if the potential gains across a number of industries will only increase.”

Pelland explains that the cable works at both a macro and micro grid level – there are significant system gains to be made even on small-scale private grid networks.

“If you look to the wider National Grid, it would be an immense undertaking to replace all existing power distribution cables with this new technology, and any eventual adoption will come over years of planned maintenance and upgrades.

“Until then you’ll have to balance the new gains with the around 7.2% losses still existing from legacy cable. With micro grids, however, there’s the opportunity to install these cables across the entire network, allowing for bigger overall gains across the network as a whole,” says Pelland. l

£1.1bnis spent annually on wasted power, accounting for more than seven million tonnes of carbon

While we’re constantly asked to think more about energy efficiency, there is also a huge amount of energy lost before it even reaches us – the commercial and environmental gains of a more efficient transmission and distribution system are staggering

allow for site upgrades for more powerful and larger volume servers and systems. Similarly, for data centres being supplied and supported by renewable energy solutions, including solar arrays and wind turbines, these cables could increase the volume of power reaching the point of delivery, even over relatively short distances – again, getting more for the same amount of power generated.

“With global energy demand set to increase by 48% by 2060, the roll-out of the electrified, digital railway, and the growth of new technologies such as electric vehicles, it looks as

working with Enertechnos and Eland Cables on this exciting project are:• Brunel University’s Institute

of Energy Futures, which will develop a software simulation programme to test CTS on a virtual grid to demonstrate the energy savings across extended cable runs

• The Welding Institute (TWI), which is supporting with materials handling, jointing and other practical installation assistance to ensure that the in-field deployment of this cable can be achieved in the same manner as existing products

This technology already has an agreed test site running 15km of ‘standard’ cable alongside the installation to offer direct comparison. When the results of this test site demonstrate the significantly lower levels of loss, the commercial viability

of the CTS cable is enormous. With over 60 million kilometres of power distribution cable in use in the UK, of which 75% is over 25 years old, this new technology can deliver potentially huge efficiency gains when the network is updated.

Mission critical sitesSo how could this technology make a difference for mission critical power sectors?

Pelland comments: “This cable has the potential to make a difference for every industry and for data centres in particular; you already have areas where no further sites can locate owing to power restrictions, but with up to 20% more power reaching end-to-end with the new CTS cables, this is significant additional capacity on the existing power available from the Grid (for no extra cost and no additional carbon emissions).”

He explains that this would

Mike Hayes, applications specialist at DencoHappel, part of the FläktGroup, explains the difference between heat removal and cooling, and considers why this trend shows no sign of abating

The way we control temperatures inside data centres has

changed dramatically over the years. The advances in computer technology, when combined with better a better understanding of the best ways to lay out a data centre, have led to an acceptance that data centres can actually operate at a much higher temperature than previously thought, without impacting on the high levels of reliability their customers expect.

To understand this change in thinking, we first have to look at how data centres have changed in the decades since they were introduced in the ’60s and ’70s. Back then, scientists would work at their desk alongside computers. There would be an abundance of paper in the workspace,

an item that has long since become virtually obsolete in modern data centres.

This led to two important considerations for IT managers. Firstly, the space had to maintain a suitable temperature so that individuals can work comfortably.

Typically, this was accepted to be around 21oC, and led to the norm that the servers held within these facilities should also operate in this climate.

Secondly, relative humidity had to be kept at a level of around 50% to avoid damaging the high-quality paper used

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by the machines. In order to achieve this level, the cooling system would often have to supply air as low as 11oC to keep the whole room close to the 21oC target.

However, while the IT equipment no longer requires this level of cooling and such

MCP February 2018

COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

Achieving the perfecttemperature: cooling vs heat removal

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substantially changed the way data centres can be cooled.

Instead of pumping in volumes of cold air into the whole room, which is a very inefficient method to cool mixed warm and cold air, data centres can isolate hot air ejected from server outlets and remove it. Overall air temperature can be automatically reduced, lowering the cooling load required. In fact, cooling systems can now provide air at mid-20oC temperatures, without affecting the performance or reliability of the servers.

Heat removalThe rise of modern cooling systems that capitalise on this ‘heat removal’ philosophy has also enabled data centres managers to maintain a climate that maximises the reliability and performance of IT hardware in their facility while improving their power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating at the same time. These systems can often pay for themselves very quickly when compared with using more traditional climate control solutions.

Evaporative coolingFor instance, indirect evaporative cooling systems exploit the temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor environment by passing indoor and outdoor air through a plate heat exchanger. When outdoor temperatures are higher, it can utilise adiabatic humidification to recreate this temperature difference for heat rejection.

There are also solutions that deliver ‘free cooling’ by using a water circuit as a go-between when the outdoor air is colder than the indoor conditions.

With higher indoor temperatures, it operates in mix-mode, where both the free cooling and the direct expansion operate simultaneously. The system benefits from the ‘cube root’ principle, where if the free cool circuit can provide 20% of what is required, then this is 20% less for the direct expansion circuit, saving nearly 50% in energy consumption.

All things considered, it is clear to see why new data centre spaces should always consider heat removal as a valuable part of the cooling process, regardless of whether they are undertaking an expansion, or designing an entirely new facility.

The rise of new technologies such as adiabatic evaporation and free cooling, together with rising energy prices, are only going to make this trend all the more popular.

The energy efficiency benefits, when allied to cost savings, will make heat removal an increasingly desirable addition for data centres looking to maximise their profitability, while delivering a high level of reliability for their customers. l

The rise of modern cooling systems that capitalise on a ‘heat removal’ philosophy has enabled data centre managers to maintain a climate that maximises the reliability and performance of IT hardware in their facility while improving their power usage effectiveness (PUE)

Heat removal is becoming increasingly popular in data centres thanks in no small part to energy efficiency benefits

conditioners (CRACs) to convert warm air to cool air by removing heat to the outside. CRACs can be used in a number of basic configurations that focus on cooling the entire room, just a row or just a rack. Whole-room air conditioning situated CRACs in such a way that a certain temperature is maintained fairly evenly throughout the room.

When you consider the fact that most of the electrical energy going into a data centre will turn into heat at some stage, you can begin to understand the challenge of cooling these spaces. This is, in fact, a large amount of energy – it is estimated that in 2017 the global data centre industry used 541 terawatts, roughly 1,000 times more energy than the whole of the United States uses at any one time.

Rather than trying to combat this with cooling, then, it is much more simple, effective and energy efficient to take the hot air outside. To do this, data centre layout designs have been refined to isolate warm from cool air. An improved understanding of aisle containment and its benefits

stringent relative humidity targets, attitudes towards data centre cooling have, in some circumstances, stayed the same. Considering the levels of loss that can result from a server failure, it is unsurprising that some IT departments continued to take a conservative approach to close climate control.

However, as IT equipment and people started to separate, the space that was once filled by desks started to be filled with server racks. Modern infrastructural hardware was also evolving to tolerate higher temperatures, so thresholds could be raised without affecting their power or performance.

Air coolingAir cooling – in the traditional sense – involves the use of computer room air

IT, telecoms and cloud services provider Daisy Group has saved more than

£115,000 of data centre cooling energy costs during the first few months after signing a five-year data centre thermal

optimisation managed service with EkkoSense.

The service has been designed to reduce data centre thermal risk, increase cooling capacity and reduce cooling equipment energy costs across

Daisy’s five UK data centres. The EkkoSense thermal optimisation managed service combines the company’s innovative Internet of Things (IoT) enabled sensors, SaaS 3D thermal visualisation and monitoring software, and data centre cooling optimisation skills to deliver an improved data centre thermal performance thanks to specialist airflow and cooling optimisation capabilities.

“We knew from past projects that EkkoSense is able to help us reduce our operational exposure to thermal risks. This was a key factor when we decided to extend our engagement to cover our five data centres as part of a managed service,” comments Michael Sheridan, head of

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facilities at Daisy Group. “So far we have secured

better than expected data centre cooling energy savings, with £115,000 already secured, and more to come as we continue to benefit from ongoing optimisation,” continues Sheridan.

James Kirkwood, head of critical services at EkkoSense, adds: “By applying the real-time, rack-level thermal data gathered by our IoT sensors we can ensure that Daisy is not only protected from potential data centre thermal risks, but that they are also in a position to develop much more proactive data centre power, cooling and space capacity strategies.

“We look forward to securing additional savings and benefits as the project progresses.” l

MCP February 2018

COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

Cool savings across Daisy chain EkkoSense has helped reduce energy costs across Daisy’s five data centres

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In an underground command centre, hidden below the streets of Westminster, experts gathered to debate the role of virtual reality in the war against wasted energy. Louise Frampton reports

At a recent panel discussion on the value of virtual reality

in the data centre sector, held at London’s Churchill War Rooms, end users provided an insight into how they are using the software at every stage of the data centre life cycle to improve resilience, innovate and reduce costs.

As part of this discussion, experts shared their vision for adopting the use of simulation to reduce the threat of outages, caused by human factors, in the same way the aviation industry has used the technology to improve its safety record.

Why VR? ‘Virtual Facility’ (VF) is essentially a 3D mathematical model of a real facility, used as a test bed for experimentation. If you combine this with CFD software it is possible to safely evaluate the impact of any change to the data centre. Data centre operators can study the implications of different power, loading and cooling scenarios, to see how the data centre will cope. In short, the technology enables users to test performance, durability, safety

and reliability in a risk-free environment.

One of the applications of virtual reality includes the ability to provide a communication tool, enabling designers to give clients a virtual tour of their proposals, with an immersive experience. Colocation providers can also use the technology to show customers a new cage layout and how it will operate, for example. When applied in operational sites, it is possible to overlay simulation and DCIM data to understand the data centre performance. It can also be used for site assessment, analysis and training to reduce human errors and failures.

So, do data centres need CFD more than any other buildings?

Julien de Charentenay, head of building physics, at Red Engineering, reports that 90% of the company’s work is on data centres. “You only have one chance to get it right,” he comments.

As the data centre industry moves towards reducing PUE and saving energy costs, attention has turned to the cooling plant. With up to 40% of the data centre’s energy consumed by the cooling infrastructure, there are significant savings to be realised with the latest technology advances in cooling systems and design techniques.

Future Facilities’ 6SigmaDCX software suite allows users to analyse the impact of external

environmental factors, including wind profiles, humidity, solar gain and even exhaust emission contamination from generators. This proved to be invaluable for Red Engineering, when designing a state-of-the-art rooftop plant for a Tier III 40,000 ft2 data centre.

The company used VF to predictively simulate the impact on the facility’s operating conditions. As a result of doing so, it was able to safely instigate a significant redesign that safeguarded the cooling plant’s performance in extreme weather conditions.

With an increasing trend towards more free cooling – either direct (fresh air directly into the data centre) or indirect

DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

Secret weapon in fight for better performance

Fighting them ‘virtually’ on the beaches: Winston Churchill tries out VR during Future Facilities’ DC-Day at the Imperial War Museum’s Churchill War Rooms

»

34 DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

Could virtual reality deliver a victory for data centres by reducing energy costs?


(fresh air used to cool the data centre air without mixing) – the environment outside a data centre is now more important than ever. The interaction between a building’s intakes and exhausts with the weather outside can greatly impact the successful running of the facility.

Without VF, the consultant cannot easily ensure that the cooling system they have designed will deliver the required load in the operating environment, leaving unanswered questions about the resilience of the facility.

Instead of being reliant on manufacturers’ recommended space requirements (running the risk that the facility would not meet design goals), Red Engineering used VF to understand the complex relationship between white space, external weather and cooling plant.

The site was part-loaded but was reporting data hall supply air of 37°C. VF showed that poor cooling plant layout, combined with specific weather conditions, were the cause. Despite being only 34°C outside, strong winds were causing recirculation of exhaust air, raising temperatures in the roof well beyond 50°C.

The chilled water temperatures rocketed to 28°C, which led to extreme temperatures within the hall. With the problems identified, Red Engineering then used VF to redesign the plant and to deliver safeguarded performance in all weather conditions.

CFD is useful in all geographies – however, in some locations there are additional challenges in terms of pollution for ambient cooling.

Scott Payton, technical director at Global Data Center Engineering, explains that in regions where there are out of control forest fires, such as Indonesia, the wind can suddenly change and the resulting pollution can affect neighbouring countries, such as Singapore.

“There are air quality issues

that you will not find in other parts of the world. Humidity is another factor that needs to be monitored in some areas. Everywhere is different, so you need to be able to see how equipment will perform in that environment,” he continues.

InnovationPaul Finch, chief operating officer of KAO Data Centres, reports that simulation has played an important role in energy saving cooling innovation at the company’s new data centre in Harlow.

Once completed, the campus will comprise four data centres with four ‘technology suites’, designed over three floors, totalling approximately 150,000 sq ft of technical space. Each technology suite will be capable of supporting a 2175kW IT load totalling an 8.7MW IT load across each building. At the heart of the data centre’s design is an evaporative cooling system, which will result in increased reliability, higher energy efficiency, increased sustainability and lower operating costs over the life-cycle of the facility.

“Although we study trends, and the work that ASHRAE has undertaken, as a wholesale data centre developer, it is impossible to know what customers will employ in terms of IT and networking equipment.

“For many years, we were designing data centres around 1500 W/m2. However, today, customers are asking for higher densities. We are now starting to move towards 3KW/m2. With the loads increasing, there are greater amounts of heat,” Finch comments.

When using an adiabatic cooling approach, CFD gives extra assurances early on and enables the system to be optimised to meet industry accepted cooling recommendations, as well as evaluate whether it is actually necessary to invest in mechanical systems, which can add 25% in capex.

“Data centres cost a lot of money. You need to have a clear understanding of where you are committing your money,” Finch comments.

“You need to be sure that, when it is built, it does what it

says on the tin. There is a lot of risk involved but there is also a lot of opportunity. CFD means we can test and be innovative, with low risk and low cost. You can deliver significant benefits over the longer term.

“If you can use CFD to demonstrate what the outcomes are going to be, you can offer customers assurances.”

Using simulation also helps reduce the time to market for cooling innovation – why prototype when you can simulate? Airedale is using the technology to help design cooling equipment.

“To build several different prototypes with different heat exchanger layouts would be impractical, but CFD allows us to explore different concepts early on, in a cost-effective and timely fashion, as well as during the more detailed design phase to identify and mitigate any potential problems that could arise further down the line,” says Patrick Cotton, customer services manager at Airedale International Air Conditioning.

Cotton first gained an insight into the use of simulation

Without the Virtual Facility, the consultant cannot easily ensure that the cooling system they have designed will deliver the required load in the operating environment, leaving unanswered questions about the resilience of the facility

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while working in Airedale’s R&D team. The company uses Future Facilities’ 6SigmaDCX software suite to help them optimise the design of its state-of-the-art ACUs and chillers. VF addresses the demand for more effective cooling systems

by using CFD to simulate airflow. It has improved Airedale’s performance in design stages and enabled the company to build a precise replica of its test facility. For Airedale, this has resulted in better offerings to customers as

well as enhanced research and development.

Analysis goes beyond the design of the cooling hardware, however. Cotton comments: “From our perspective, responsibility doesn’t stop at the output of the unit. The [cooling] hardware has to perform within the data centre environment it is placed in… It is critical for the end user to look at how the air travels through to the IT equipment. The software provides a lot more value; we can advise customers on best practices and help them meet guidelines,” he comments.

Mitigating human errorHuman error is another area of uncertainly where virtual reality may be able to help in the future, according to Payton.

“The data centre industry is where the aviation industry was in 1970. In 1970, aircraft moved away from traditional prop engines and there was an

expectation that the number of fatal crashes would decrease – they had spectacular redundancy and more reliable engines.

“However, between 1970 and 1980, the number of crashes didn’t go down. Redundancy did not solve the problem,” comments Payton.

He points out that more than 70% of data centre failures are caused by human error. The aviation industry, however, has improved its record and the use of simulators has made a difference.

Pilots can practise for possible failures, over and over, throughout the span of their careers, so they are ready for any eventuality. Payton hopes that the data centre sector will adopt the same approach.

“This could have a serious impact on outcomes and reliability for data centres in the same way simulation has helped the aviation industry,” he concludes. l

Centiel ’s CumulusPower UPS contains all the power elements of a UPS and provides a significant and futureproof improvement over previous system designs, writes managing director Michael Brooks

Data centres require 100% power availability as their

customers depend on 24/7 access to their data. It is the responsibility of the data centre to ensure this availability by the installation of an appropriate uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system.

Over the years, there have been many developments in UPS technology to improve reliability and availability. One of these was the transformerless technology pioneered by Filippo Marbach and his design team in the 1990s. Marbach was also the driving force behind the design and development of the first three phase modular UPS. Continuing this passion for technological innovation, in 2015 he founded Centiel in Switzerland.

Originally, transformers were a necessary part of a UPS due to the technology available at the time. Their primary function was to step up the inverter output voltage to the required 240v or 415v. However, transformers are copper or occasionally aluminium coils, surrounding

a laminated iron core, and are large, heavy and expensive. In the past, a 100kVA UPS – a mid-range system today – would have included a transformer weighing half a tonne and the size of an armchair. Even with the very best transformer based UPS, only 90-92% efficiency could be achieved due to the 4-5% energy losses within the transformer. Such losses equal waste and unnecessary cost.

Transformerless technologyThe move to transformerless technology was achieved thanks to massively improved control circuitry, improved power devices and the

innovative designs of engineers like Marbach.

The introduction of high power insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), enabled fast and accurate switching at high power without the losses that plagued traditional power transistors. Greater efficiency led to reduced energy loss through heat, allowing more power to be built in to a smaller space.

Removing large and heavy transformers and making the electronics more compact, led to the production of high power UPS units that were small enough to carry, and this in turn led to the development of the modular concept, with multiple units inside the single frame, as seen today.

There is a vast array of different UPS currently on the market. They vary across a wide spectrum of cost and quality but the overriding aim for any data centre looking to implement a UPS must be the requirement for clean, continuous power, and this is achieved through maximising availability.

Availability should not be confused with reliability. They


Achieving ultimate power protection


are two very different, although related, factors. Obviously, reliability is an important factor in power protection design but systems must be available every second of every day, therefore maximising system availability must be the overriding objective of any installation. System availability is a function of the mean time to repair (MTTR).

For example: a UPS can be extremely reliable but when a fault does occur, then the system can fail completely and lose load power or transfer to bypass, leaving the load vulnerable. A simple power cut could then compromise availability, leaving the data centre without critical power.

Various elements of system design can affect availability, including the technology and configuration employed. Mid-range three-phase modular UPS systems are the fastest growing market sector. This is because properly configured modular systems simultaneously maximise load availability and system efficiency. In the future, we anticipate flexible, modular systems will increasingly replace traditional standalone

Availability should not be confused with reliability. They are two very different, although related, factors

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systems due to the drive for high availability, fast repair and commonality of parts, as well as a greatly reduced system footprint.

Modular systems have a single frame, containing a number (N) of power modules, all operating together and sharing the load equally between all modules. By utilising a true N+1 (parallel redundant) configuration, a problem within one module simply results in that module being isolated, leaving the remaining modules supporting the load and maintaining the all-important availability. In other words: customers are not affected, staff can keep working.

We have recently introduced the new Centiel CumulusPower UPS, incorporating distributed active redundant architecture (Dara) which provides a significant improvement over previous system designs. Each module contains all the power elements of a UPS – rectifier, inverter, static switch, display and, critically, all control and monitoring circuitry. This places it above other current

designs that have a separate, single static switch assembly and separate control or intelligence modules.

The single, separate static switch module, as used in some common modular systems, should be of most concern as all load power must pass through it, whether the system is on inverter or on static bypass – it is a single point of failure. The design of Centiel intelligent power modules ensures that there is no single active component as a possible point of failure.

A further issue with some

existing modular designs is that the synchronisation, current sharing and control communication between the power modules, control and intelligence modules and static switch modules are at risk of disruption by a failure in any one of many components within the communication loop. In comparison, CumulusPower has multiple redundant communication paths between all modules. This ensures that a fault within one path does not disrupt system operation but simply generates a warning.

This brings us on to batteries. Many modular systems on the market utilise a common battery. This is where the same battery bank is connected to all the modules. If there is a single string of batteries, and if any one of those batteries fails, the result would be a major outage if the incoming mains is disrupted. An alternative approach is to have two or more parallel strings of batteries. This ensures that if one string is compromised, the UPS is still supported by a reduced number of strings. However, even in these installations, a single set of fuses and cables connect the

battery to the UPS, inviting another potential single point of failure.

The better solution is selecting technology that includes a battery string for each separate UPS module - therefore, creating a more secure N+1 battery configuration. The CumulusPower allows for this configuration.

Improvements in UPS system design has also enabled systems to have an adjustable DC Bus (battery voltage). In other words, a fixed number of batteries is not a requirement. Most brands are designed to operate only with a fixed quantity – for example 33 x 12v battery blocks in a string.

There are two challenges here. The first is when one battery is found weak or failed, and needs to be replaced urgently but there is a delay in getting a replacement. In many systems it is possible to manually adjust DC voltage to compensate, but this is not a simple task, and requires the dc alarm and trip settings to be adjusted. If a second or third block fails, then the entire battery must be disconnected.

The second challenge is when initially selecting a battery to provide a specific run time. A fixed battery quantity limits the battery choice and can result in a larger than necessary battery being installed.

The CumulusPower intelligent power modules have a simple service menu DC adjustment. The 20kW and 50kW power modules can operate with between 40 and 50 series connected 12v blocks. This gives greater flexibility at installation and during servicing.

It also makes the CumulusPower an ideal and cost-effective choice when

The design of Centiel Intelligent Power Modules ensures that there is no single active component as a possible point of failure

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Centiel modular

UPS technology


upgrading an existing UPS system that has a recently had an expensive battery system replaced. There is no need to replace the existing battery.

There have been many developments in UPS systems over the past two decades aiming to remove single points of failure and therefore


over time, there will be a move towards lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, as cost reductions driven by developments in the automotive industry flow through to the standby power sectors.

Incorporating Li-ion batteries will inevitably reduce the size and weight of UPS

We will be displaying and talking about our Li-ion battery capabilities at Data Centre World.

However, it is also important to mention that regardless of the UPS purchased, the system must always be in peak operational condition. Because all systems contain

This illustrates a further advantage of modern modular systems as maintenance is much simpler. A module can easily be removed from the UPS frame, leaving the remainder to support the load. This obviously eliminates the risk to the critical load by being on mains during a maintenance or service, but also helps to eliminate the risk of human error while carrying out switching procedures between UPS and external bypass.

In our ever evolving world, future-proofing systems is one of the greatest challenges faced by system designers. The good news is that modular UPS systems can be quickly and easily reconfigured to adapt to changes in load requirements over time.

This not only ensures the highest efficiency is maintained but more importantly it guarantees availability of power protection whatever the future holds. l

Incorporating Li-ion batteries will inevitably reduce the size and weight of UPS systems and the longer useful working life of Li-ion will mean fewer costly replacements

maximise availability. Centiel, led by Marbach and his team, have been pioneers at the forefront of this industry and this is why, in 2017, MPower agreed to join forces with Centiel and become the UK subsidiary of Centiel Group.

One area in which we have anticipated change for some time is in battery technology. We believe that

systems and the longer useful working life of Li-ion will mean fewer costly replacements.

The systems of the future will need to be designed with Li-ion in mind. The good news is that Centiel’s technology is already Li-ion ready, so existing lead acid battery installations will have the option to upgrade to Li-ion in the future without needing to replace the UPS.

both electrical and mechanical components which degrade over time, it is essential that they receive routine preventative maintenance inspections.

These components (cooling fans, capacitors and batteries) have a finite working life and require proactive replacement if a UPS system’s availability is to be maximised.

Powerstar CEO Alex Mardapittas discusses the risks of power supply issues in mission critical facilities. He outlines the benefits energy storage and voltage optimisation technology can provide for businesses looking to ensure a reliable power infrastructure and reduce energy costs

Mission critical facilities support a wide range of vital

operations where power supply failures result in significant complications, whether that is severe disruptions to business operations or more serious circumstances such as a risk to the health and safety of the public. The latter, especially clear in applications such as hospitals, has highlighted the risks of an unsecure electricity infrastructure.

Although serious cases

are rare, a number of high-profile power outages at data centres and airports have been documented recently, highlighting the risk of power supply quality issues, such as blackouts, brownouts, voltage spikes and dips. Such occurrences can cause significant damage to highly sensitive areas, resulting in major disruption for companies and their customers.

It has, therefore, become increasingly clear that mission critical applications must

have measures in place to secure facilities. An upsurge in the National Grid’s DUoS (Distribution Use of System) and Triad charges have further compounded the issue. Such charges have proven to be major contributors to the increasing energy storage requirements of mission critical applications.

Businesses are concerned about consuming energy at periods of high demand throughout the day, given such network charges can account

40


ENERGY STORAGE

Securing reliable power for critical sites

for up to 24% of a company’s energy bill.

In the past, faced with such charges, some sites simply switched off all but essential supplies during these peak times. However, it is not always possible to take such a dramatic step, especially in today’s technologically advanced world and particularly within businesses such as data centres, where power is constantly required to protect critical data.

The latest strategies aimed

41


at protecting and optimising mission critical applications – from a decentralised energy network to energy storage and voltage optimisation – are contributing to a more reliable power infrastructure and mitigating the risks of unplanned outages.

DecentralisationWith energy prices continuing to rise, and increasingly stringent targets on carbon emissions in place, facilities with critical power requirements are looking at decentralised energy storage schemes as one solution.

The government’s Clean Growth Strategy expects to invest about £265m nationally in smart systems to reduce

February 2018 MCP

one example, with the ability to offer full uninterruptible power supply (UPS) capabilities that kick in automatically when a supply issue is detected and can respond rapidly or even seamlessly within milliseconds to provide full support to the load and negate the need for any additional backup.

Adopting energy storage systems with full UPS capabilities will help organisations prepare for energy failures without interruption to the power supply, no matter what the cause of the power outage. Leading solutions can activate within a timeframe of just three milliseconds after a supply issue is detected, which is vital when figures show

that blackouts or brownouts are becoming more frequent, with a 46% increase recorded in 2016 compared with the previous year.

In addition to UPS, energy storage can provide significant cost savings to businesses, particularly high electricity users, by capturing energy during off-peak tariff periods, or through renewable sources, and storing it ready for use when required.

This allows the user to come off the grid and switch to stored electricity as needed. It is estimated that storing off-grid energy can save organisations up to 24% on electricity bills – particularly attractive to facilities such as hospitals, data centres and airports.

High-profile power outages at data centres and airports have been documented recently, highlighting the risk of power supply quality issues, such as blackouts, brownouts, voltage spikes and dips

the costs of electricity storage, advanced innovative demand response technologies and develop new ways of balancing the National Grid. Included in the remit of the strategy is the concept of a decentralised energy network, where energy is generated locally to the application and makes the most of both energy efficiency and renewables.

Driven by fears about the security of energy supplied through the grid, particularly as demand is predicted to escalate due to further adoption of electric vehicles, an increased investment in energy storage systems by critical power facilities is helping energy sources be more effective and secure, and assisting the National Grid with balancing demand.

Energy storage technologyThe new generation of energy storage systems, such as Powerstar Virtue, can be installed to support a backup supply to the load in the event of a power failure. Onsite energy storage solutions are

DUoS, Triads and demand-side response Alongside providing a host of UPS benefits, energy storage technology can provide support in negating the increasing energy costs from providers, including increases in distribution use of system (DUoS) and Triad charges for commercial sites, such as airports that consume moderate to high levels of electricity.

In basic terms, DUoS and Triads are charges that distribution network operator (DNOs) and the National Grid place on businesses for consuming energy at periods of high demand throughout the day.

By using energy storage

technology, facilities such as banks, transport networks and universities can harness the energy that has been stored during off-peak tariff times, and use it during peak DUoS periods. This process can be replicated for Triads – three half-hour settlement periods with highest system demand within the year. Even though Triads aren’t announced in advance, they can often be accurately predicted, allowing energy storage to assist companies in attaining further savings on energy costs.

In certain applications, such as data centres, using energy storage can also enable corporations to supply electricity back to the National Grid in order to generate additional revenue through demand-side response (DSR) contracts. Supporting grid capacity through DSR attracts financial reward for organisations that are able to be flexible with their energy consumption, increasing or reducing electricity usage as required.

As batteries can be used to

support the National Grid, this form of energy storage technology can provide instant energy discharge when required. As a result, specifying and installing a bespoke-engineered solution based on a business’s requirements will ensure businesses have the ability to successfully respond to the majority of all DSR events.

Battery-based energy storage technology is an ideal solution for organisations that are reliant on the continuous, uninterrupted functioning of IT or critical equipment. Additionally, if capacity needs to be expanded, more batteries are installed in line with demand, future proofing the solution.

46%The increase in blackouts and brownouts reported in 2016

compared with 2017

»

Battery-based energy storage and voltage optimisation technologies offer an ideal solution for providing an uninterruptable power supply to mission critical sites

42 ENERGY STORAGE

to power factor and harmonics. The problems associated

with the oversupply of voltage can be harmful for any application, especially those operating critical equipment. Not only can it have costly financial ramifications incurred through higher than necessary electricity bills but it can also lead to increased replacement expenses as the lifespan of electrical equipment decreases due to excessive strain.

What’s more, the avoidable inconveniences caused result in wasted energy and higher carbon emissions, an unattractive proposition for any business attempting to conform to corporate social responsibility standards.

Voltage optimisation was developed to optimise power from the National Grid, which is generally supplied at a higher voltage than necessary. The average supply delivered within the UK is 242V but can be as high as 253V, while the optimum for most UK electrical equipment sits

Experienced providers of energy storage systems should deliver a concept-to-completion service including assessing and monitoring a building’s energy supply to understand which system specification will best meet the required needs.

They will also be able to advise on optimising processes, minimising consumption and other energy-saving options. As no two sites are the same, a bespoke solution can be put together to reflect the specific needs and requirements of each facility.

Voltage optimisationWhile next generation innovations, such as energy storage and UPS, offer obvious advantages for mission critical applications and have been much vaunted in recent years, they should impede the more established technologies such as voltage optimisation from being a valuable solution.

As a widely recognised technology, voltage optimisation has already been proven in a range of applications from hotels, data centres, hospitals and universities. Voltage optimisation is an effective way to reduce energy consumption and, consequently, carbon emissions, while offering benefits such as improvements

around 220V due to European design characteristics. Voltage optimisation reduces the excessive supply to an optimal level, therefore preventing the problems typically associated with excessive voltage.

Technologies are typically installed between the distribution transformer and the main low voltage distribution board, allowing the majority of the consumer’s electrical equipment to benefit from a regulated and optimised power supply.

There are two types of voltage optimisation systems for low voltage applications: ‘fixed’ systems, such as Powerstar LITE, optimise the voltage by a set amount to match the incoming profile; and ‘electronic-dynamic’ solutions, such as Powerstar MAX, that use intelligent controls to optimise the voltage and maintain it at a constant level, even when an unstable supply is present.

Optimising the supply voltage for facilities within

mission critical sectors ensures companies only pay for the energy that they actually use. In addition, it can assist with harmonics, transients and phase voltages to give a smoother power supply and extends the life of equipment – providing the added benefit of reduced maintenance costs.

Securing a future for mission critical powerAn ageing energy infrastructure and increasing pressure on the National Grid to deliver an adequate power supply are placing growing strain on mission critical facilities. Keen to avoid failures in their critical power infrastructure, which can lead to high energy costs, physical damage to electrical and essential medical equipment, as well as dangers of serious data breaches, facilities are increasingly turning to multifaceted technologies to improve, maximise and future proof their energy infrastructure.

Battery-based energy storage and voltage optimisation technologies offer an ideal solution for providing an uninterruptable power supply to organisations such as data centres, the NHS, transport infrastructure or those that are reliant on the continuous, uninterrupted functioning of IT or critical equipment. l

Voltage optimisation is an effective way to reduce energy consumption and, consequently, carbon emissions while offering benefits such as improvements to power factor and harmonics



DCW celebrates 10th anniversary

This year’s Data Centre World promises to be bigger and better

than ever. Attendees will be able to keep up to date with the latest industry trends and network with their peers and competitors in six key product areas: power and energy; security; fire prevention; data centre routing and switching; and robotics automation.

DCW 2018 will play host to 550 world-class speakers from across the technology and data centre landscape, such as: Mozan Totani, director and head of data centre development and delivery at Oath; Garry Connolly, president and co-chair of the GDPR Awareness Coalition and Host in Ireland; Jon Summers, scientific leader in data centres at Research Institutes of Sweden; and Emma Fryer, associate director at techUK.

New features of this year’s show will include the Diversity and Talent stream, which will open up discussion around skills shortages and shine a light on the diversity challenges the industry continues to face. Though progress has been made, there is still a lot of work to be done, and speakers from organisations such as Tech UK, GCHQ, Massive Interactive, CNet Training and Next Tech Girls will discuss how to tackle the issue.

TechUK’s Emma Fryer praised DCW’s leadership in this debate, noting that “an encouraging number of women are contributing to the programme content in speaking roles. This sets a great example and demonstrates that women can and should hold positions of leadership in the sector.”

The upcoming General Data Protection Regulations means businesses will have to carry out massive changes in the way they

deal with data. The new rules will present both challenges and opportunities, which is why Data Centre World will be hosting a dedicated GDPR stream, including a panel titled ‘GDPR & CCA: The Best Ways to Meet Compliance’.

Ten years ago, few could have imagined some of the technology we now take for granted. Machine learning and artificial intelligence may at times seem far-fetched but businesses are becoming increasingly curious and are starting to invest in these technologies. A decade on from the inaugural event, DCW will be hosting a specialised stream dealing with the practical applications of machine learning and AI in the data centre.

More than 500 companies will be exhibiting, including Stulz, Schneider Electric, Eaton, Huber + Suhner, Legrand and Vertiv. The one-of-a-kind Live Green Data Centre feature will once again be at the heart of the event, with a working showcase which will illustrate the implementation of cooling units, fans, cables and more. Dunwoody, Starline, TTK, Cellwatch, Excool, Reillo UPS are just some of those already involved.

Event director Rabinder Aulakh comments: “Our passion is supporting those in the data centre industry, which is pivotal to so much of the technology that we take for granted. I’m really proud to be able to welcome so many professionals from the industry, as well as our partners and sponsors such as Riello UPS, Huber+Suhner, Eaton, Stulz, Schneider Electric and RF Code, to name but a few.” l

Register at: datacentreworld.com/pr-mcp

Data Centre World returns for its 10th year at London’s Excel on 21-22 March

Sponsored column

Power transformers are the essential equipment that step down voltage from the transmission or distribution grid to feed low voltage equipment such as servers, HVAC and process equipment. They are highly-engineered and high value assets that are designed to meet the requirements of different applications at various voltage levels.

Maintenance is key to long and successful operation of transformers and ABB has a dedicated team to look after power transformers from any manufacturer so that customers can optimise their lifetime. Operators call in ABB to deliver maintenance on a scheduled and fast-track basis.

The team offers a comprehensive suite of services. For example, they can test and treat the quality of mineral oil inside the transformer, or even arrange for complete re-manufacture of the windings and core to bring a unit up to the highest levels of efficiency. Additionally, they can retrofit the latest Transformer Intelligence, which enables web-based condition monitoring and enhances asset management.

Refurbishment as a fast-track alternative to replacementOne customer that recently used the TRES services is CEMEX, which experienced a fault on a power transformer at its £200m plant in Rugby. The facility is one of the most modern cement plants in the world and can produce up to 1.8 million tonnes of cement each year.

Two ABB power transformers manufactured in 1988 provide power for essential milling, clinker and cement processing equipment as well as the security gatehouse, packing plant and dispatch office. When one of the two transformers experienced a fault in October 2016, the site operators switched fully to the remaining unit and called the TRES team to investigate.

CEMEX was keen to evaluate whether ABB could return the transformer to service. This would avoid the long lead time for a new

replacement and return the site to its original level of redundancy.

ABB’s first step was to carry out a detailed condition assessment and electrical testing. Testing included frequency response analysis and measuring the dielectric frequency response, insulation power factor, excitation current and the voltage ratio for every position on the tap changer. Effectiveness of the solid insulation was evaluated by measuring its polymerisation – giving insight into the remaining life of the insulation around the windings, which is an indicator of remaining life.

With the aim of gaining full confidence in their recommendations, the team even took the unusual step of de-tanking the transformer, which is the process of removing its core and windings from the tank that contains them. This was the first such operation carried out by ABB in the UK, rather than at a specialist remanufacturing facility.

The thorough inspection identified the source of the failure as a fault in the tap changer, a component that varies the voltage output of the transformer. ABB confirmed that this fault could be rectified within a few months at its specialist transformer facility in Drammen, Norway.

As well as approving refurbishment, CEMEX also chose to install hydrogen and moisture sensors from ABB’s Transformer Intelligence portfolio. Now in operation, these enable CEMEX to continuously monitor the quality of the transformer oil, and therefore its effectiveness.

The unit was shipped to Norway in January 2017 for refurbishment, before being installed and filled with new transformer oil, then returned to service before the end of March 2017.

Building confidence in transformer condition Johnny Sanchez, Engineering Manager for ABB’s Transformer Remanufacturing and Engineering Solutions team, explains how refurbishment can return a critical transformer unit to service quickly.

ABB refurbished

one of two transformers that provide

power for vital process

equipment at CEMEX Rugby

Blue Chip believes that data centre operators have a responsibility to mitigate their environmental impact. Delivering an exceptionally low carbon footprint and an enviable PUE of 1.1, the company also offers customers an impressive 99.995% availability. Louise Frampton reports

Data centres currently account for 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas

emissions and consume about 3% of our global electricity supply. However, operators are increasingly aware of their environmental responsibilities and are taking action to address their green credentials.

Data centre service provider Blue Chip is tackling the carbon footprint of its data centres, using the latest technologies to minimise their impact on the environment. A privately owned, global leader in IBM support, cloud and data centre services, the company operates the

largest independent IBM Power Cloud infrastructure in the world. It is responsible for managing critical IT infrastructure for more than 700 businesses in the UK and abroad, with clients ranging from the banking sector and well-known retail brands, to pharmaceutical giants, where

44


reliability and security are crucial. The company owns and operates two data centres in the UK, one Tier 4 by design and one Tier 3, with a PUE of 1.1 – making them among the greenest facilities in Europe. The company has set its sights on being ‘carbon neutral’ and is already making

MCP February 2018

DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE

Branching out: sowing the seeds for a carbon-neutral data centre

Blue Chip has pledged to plant 2,000 trees for every rack it manages

45


huge strides to achieve its goal. Mission Critical Power recently visited the company’s Tier 4 data centre, to gain an insight into the data centre service provider’s approach to delivering on its targets for energy efficiency, resilience and security, as well the company’s future plans for growth. The freehold site in Bedford, which first opened in October 2010, is now at 80-90% capacity, prompting Blue Chip to embark on its next phase of expansion.

“The data centre rooms comprise six halls, built in a modular fashion to facilitate growth. The sixth hall is nearly at full usage… There are already 350 racks across the six halls but we are now looking at further expansion on site, offering a potential 250 additional racks,” comments Blue Chip finance director Andy Rounding.

He explains that Blue Chip was previously a 2MW site but has now doubled its power to 4MW. At the heart of the data centre’s design has been the ambition to provide the most energy efficient

infrastructure available and reduce indirect electricity use by over 90%. With this in mind, the company invested in innovative evaporative ‘free air’ cooling, cold aisle containment and warm air recycling. The resulting reduction in power usage both benefits the environment and allows Blue Chip to offer stable contracts to its customers that are not as exposed to the increasing cost of power.

“Back in 2010, we were already leading the way with PUE of 1.25 but we decided to take this even further,” comments Rounding. “We have conventional computer room air conditioning units as back-up when needed but 95% of the

90%The reduction to indirect

electricity usage believed to be achievable through energy efficient infrastructure at Blue

Chip’s data centre

As a company, we are constantly evolving and changing the way we do things – the fact that we have been in existence for over 30 years demonstrates that we have the ability to adapt and evolve

time the data centre is cooled by free air cooling which is much more efficient. It keeps the cost down and has proven to be extremely reliable.”

The EcoCooling evaporative cooling system installed at Blue Chip is helping the organisation to deliver on its green ambitions and has been designed to give 100% compliant conditions at less than 10% of the energy usage of the best available refrigeration system. The cooling approach features a patented process, based around a return air circulation chamber.

“We use some of the hot air from the top of the data centre and mix it with the cold air to maintain optimum conditions in the data halls,” explains Blue Chip’s data centre facilities manager, Paul Murray.

“It is a concept that people find difficult to understand,” continues Rounding, explaining the approach further. “We use a cold aisle system, which operates at 21oC. The cooling is located on the North side of the building and the ambient temperature is usually less than 21oC, so most of the time we are heating the data centre.”

In addition to its energy efficiency, the data centre has achieved ISO 14001 (measuring environmental impact). The data centre sector is one of the industry sectors with the greatest carbon footprints, so the company wanted to address this – not only by reducing its energy consumption, but by offsetting its carbon footprint, with a tree planting programme. Partnering with the Marston Vale Trust, a local charity responsible for the reforestation of 61 square miles in Bedfordshire, the company has pledged to plant 2,000 trees for every rack it manages (750,000 in total). The programme will also help rejuvenate the local area, which has been damaged by decades of brick making. So far, an estimated 100,000 trees have been planted as part of this commitment. Power is also being procured via a tariff that uses 100% renewable sources.

Blue Chip owns and operates two

data centres in the UK, one Tier 4 by

design and one Tier 3

»

us in a unique position.”Delivering high levels of

resilience are Blue Chip’s Dual Network Operation Centres (NOCs). Situated at each of Blue Chip’s facilities and managed 24/7 by the company’s technical staff, the NOCs manage and monitor the daily operations of the company’s data centre

extreme disasters.“We are an IT services

company with its own data centre. Other competitors rent space from a data centre providers, placing them at the mercy of access controls – we have complete control, with a team of 30 engineers and our own systems and software monitoring the racks, which

The company invested in evaporative ‘free air’ cooling, cold aisle containment and warm air recycling. The resulting reduction in power usage both benefits the environment and allows Blue Chip to offer stable contracts to its customers

company’s plans for expansion include the addition of a new 10,000 sq ft building, which will feature a further three, energy-efficient EcoCooling units. The data centre is based on a scalable, modular design and, as the building load grows, provision has been made to add further generators and UPS. The switchgear has been designed to ensure it is future-proofed and can accommodate expansion, and a degree of over-engineering was originally employed, in relation to power, to enable the company to get to full capacity.

“It has proven to be even more reliable and efficient than we planned, so we have plenty of spare capacity… We are running at around 50% capacity on UPSs and they operate at around 90% efficiency,” Rounding comments. “Customers pay for IT power. From a commercial perspective, you don’t want to waste power by having the lights on, inefficient cooling, and inefficient UPS – you want as much of the power to be used for IT load as possible.”

Blue Chip is seeing continued growth, supported by significant investment in its data centre facilities and the latest cutting-edge technologies. The company is confident that its growth will continue on this trajectory:

“As a company, we are constantly evolving and

46 DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE

The Tier 4 operation meets the highest levels of resilience and is built to ensure exceptional levels of fault tolerance, while being concurrently maintainable. Power to the data centre is delivered by 2 (N+1) redundancy per external feed, and four Caterpillar generators are employed to ensure reliable uptime. The facility is designed so that multiple failures can occur without having a catastrophic impact. As a result, the company says that it can guarantee its clients 99.995% availability.

“When we designed the facility, we looked at the reasons why other data centres went down... We installed a quarter of a million pounds’ worth of subterranean cabling going between the two sites and two power sides, so if one side goes down, you can switch back and forth, so the UPS and generators can operate from either side and support the whole data centre,” explains Rounding.

“We think this design places

The data centre is cooled by

free air cooling 95% of the time


environments. While each NOC is capable of managing an entire facility, Blue Chip has also connected the two NOCs, creating a live/live connection and delivering real time management of both facilities from either NOC. This additional layer of resilience means that operations continue via an instant switch over, even in the event of the most

we can develop and improve to ensure it is fit for our purpose. We own and control the DCIM, so we are not reliant on other people to make it work,” Rounding comments. The facility is also designed to ensure the highest levels of security, including over 100 CCTV cameras, with storage of over 90 days of HD footage.

Rounding reveals that the

changing the way we do things – the fact that we have been in existence for over 30 years demonstrates that we have the ability to adapt and evolve. During the next 30 years we will continue to adapt and evolve – we are very comfortable about where we are now and the future is looking very exciting,” Rounding concludes. l


Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, has introduced a range of high-capacity cooling solutions for the growing colocation and cloud hosting data centre markets, enabling providers to save money, reduce risks and more easily manage their facilities.

The three new products are designed to be rapidly deployable and scalable, while using new heat exchanger or pumped refrigerant technologies that maximise operational efficiency and minimise or eliminate water usage.

These include the Liebert EFC Indirect Evaporative Freecooling Solution in 400kW capacity, available now globally; the Liebert DSE Packaged Freecooling System in 400kW capacity (available now in North America); and the Liebert DSE Freecooling System in 250kW capacity (available in January 2018

in the Americas and Asia/Pacific.) Their benefits include greater energy savings, lower total cost of ownership, rapidly deployable configurations, and low peak power requirements providing more available IT power capacity. All of this is accomplished through indirect economisation while not allowing outside air to directly enter the facility.

Nearly 60% of enterprise data centre managers report they will increase their use of colocation and cloud hosting in the next 12 months, and cost and scalability are in the top four attributes customers use to select a colocation provider, according to the Colocation Data Centre Usage Report from Vertiv.

“Digital Realty and Vertiv co-developed the new Liebert DSE 250kW solution as an extension of the Liebert DSE pumped

refrigerant technology that we have used in our data centres for more than four years,” said Kevin Dalton, vice-president of design, global design at Digital Realty.

“Our solution helps us achieve our sustainability objectives and better serve our customers with a cooling technology that reduces energy consumption, eliminates water usage for cooling and stabilises the data centre thermal environment.”

Rob Brothers, vice-president of data centre trends and strategies at IDC, added: “The new line of Vertiv cooling solutions is well-positioned to meet the growing needs of colocation and cloud hosting providers. Data centres are constantly growing and changing, and operators are working to control their costs, reduce risk and simplify the management of their data centre thermal environments.”

47PRODUCTS

High-capacity cooling solutions maximise efficiency

High power density UPSDelta Electronics has launched the 500kVA Modulon DPH series uninterruptible power supply. Delta’s online double conversion UPS offer a very high power density of 55.6kVA per 3U module. Due to its modular design, the UPS enables advanced control of power module redundancy as well as the ability to add capacity and pay-as-you-grow scalability. The Modulon DPH 500kVA UPS is the latest in its series, which includes 75, 150, and 200 kVA models as well.

The new high-density UPS from Delta launches at a time when annual global IP traffic is expected to nearly triple over the next five years. Developments such as the increase of content-heavy applications such as bandwidth-intensive video, the Internet of Things (IoT),

and big data are behind these dramatic increases in traffic and the corresponding demand for greater data centre capacity. The power density of 55.6kVA per 3U module achieved by Delta’s new 500kVA Modulon DPH model gives data centre operators greater flexibility to adapt to these rapidly changing requirements.

This high density makes oversizing – one of the major drivers of excess data centre cost – avoidable right from design phase. Adding capacity later is simple and economical, in contrast with traditional monoblock UPS systems, which require installing enough power for the maximum planned load right from the start. The high power density also means less space is consumed by power infrastructure, leaving more room for revenue-generating IT racks.

AEG Power Solutions has announced Protect Flex, its industrial grade fully modular UPS. The system has a robust design suitable for demanding environments and is configurable to all electrical system schemes, while offering the benefits of power modularity.

Protect Flex features a wide range of configurable options and a high level of scalability and flexibility. It is designed to meet an increasing demand from industries to secure power supply with equipment that has a compact footprint.

This latest UPS system is simplified, flexible and highly cost-effective, and can also cope effectively with harsh environmental conditions, featuring IP43 rating protection. It offers a high level of reliability, as well as resistance to factors such as humidity, corrosion and dust.

AEG Power Solutions’ UPS system combines modular architecture, based on 10 and 15 kVA/kW, and hot swappable power modules. It is

transformerless and IGBT based, with a customisable set of options and provides N+1 inbuilt power redundancy to maximise reliability.

The power modules are based on the latest IGBT double conversion technology, with a low input THDi and input power factor close to one, even when a low percentage of load is applied.

The Protect Flex system is designed to maximise savings in terms of footprint and power installed (kVA). The scalable architecture of the UPS reduces CapEx and optimises OpEx costs.

Its electrical and mechanical design, cabling and protection devices, are engineered to ensure security and simplify maintenance operations.According to AEG Power Solutions, uptime availability is maximised and the Mean Time To repair (MTTR) is also minimised, thanks to its modular and hot-swappable architecture.

Robust modular UPS reduces CapEx and OpEx

PRODUCTS48


Megger’s versatile new TDM 45 series test sets conveniently provide high power cable testing, cable diagnosis and sheath testing in a single device. Designed for use with medium voltage cables and capable of providing test voltages up to 45 kV, these test sets feature a modular design which means that users need only purchase the modules required for their own specific application.

The VLF Sinus 45 kV base module in the TDM 45 range can generate sine wave, rectangular and DC test voltages. It provides facilities for performing VLF withstand tests in line with IEC and IEEE standards, as well as for DC testing, sheath testing in line

with IEC 60229 and, when used in conjunction with a step voltage probe, sheath-fault pinpointing. The smart VLF system used in the TDM 45 automatically adjusts the test frequency to the cable length, which makes testing fast, easy and reliable.

An internally fitted Tan Delta option can be specified for the base module, which allows cable condition and integrity to be assessed without the need for an external computer. Another module in Megger’s new TDM 45 range is the PDS 60 partial discharge module, which, for the first time, makes it possible to immediately locate faults in underground cables during actual PD measurement.

Product header

Service reduces unplanned downtime

Medium voltage power cable testing

Remote assistance, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance are three remote services for variable speed drives being added to the ABB Ability digital platform.

Should a fault be detected within a drive, the ABB Ability Remote Assistance service ensures that a specialist provides rapid support by using the drive’s operational performance data which is available remotely via the ABB Ability platform. By sending an immediate email alert to the user, the service provides fast, round-the-clock fault identification, thereby leading to reduced downtime.

Depending on the end-user’s support agreement, a remotely located ABB

engineer offers telephone support so that the process can be restarted quickly. After gaining access to the drive’s remotely stored operating parameters, the ABB engineer can then talk to the user, wherever they are in the world, offering support to bring the drive back into operation. If the fault cannot be resolved remotely, a local ABB engineer can be dispatched to assist onsite.

ABB Ability Condition Monitoring for drives delivers accurate, real-time information about drive events to ensure that an application remains available, reliable and maintainable. It is a service that assists with maintenance planning and reduces the risk of unplanned downtime.

Companies that employ machine-to-machine communication to streamline manufacturing require real-time capabilities. IT resources deployed in close geographical proximity ensure that latency is low and data readily available.

The Rittal Edge Data Centre provides an effective answer to this need. It is a turn-key, pre-configured solution based on standardised infrastructure. It can be implemented rapidly and cost-efficiently – paving the way for Industry 4.0 applications.

The sensors and actuators deployed in smart production systems continuously relay information on the status of processes and infrastructure.This forms the basis for innovative services – such as alerts, predictive maintenance, and machine self-optimisation – delivered by the company’s IT department in real time.

To make this possible, and to rapidly respond to events and anomalies, low latency between production and IT infrastructure is critical. A remote cloud data centre is unable to support these scenarios. The solution is edge computing, that is computing resources at the perimeter of a given network. With this in mind, Rittal has introduced a new edge data centre: an end-to-end product with standardised, preconfigured IT infrastructure.

The Rittal Edge Data Centre comprises two Rittal TS IT racks, plus corresponding modules for climate control, power distribution, UPS, fire suppression, monitoring and secure access.

These units are available in various output classes and can be easily combined for rapid deployment. To safeguard critical components from heat, dust and dirt in industrial environments, the Rittal Edge Data Centre can be implemented in a self-contained high-availability room.

To streamline edge data centre planning, Rittal also offers a special web-based configurator (rittal.de/configuration-system).

Customers who would prefer not to operate the edge data centre themselves can further opt for a data-centre-as-a-service (DCaaS) offering.

Edge data centre solution

49

February 2018 MCPmissioncriticalpower.uk

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Craig BakerEltek Power (UK)’s UPS sales manager discusses herding cattle, Barbarians and rocking out to the Foo Fighters

Q&A50


Who would you least like to share a lift with? I doubt I could stand to be in a lift with Mr Trump right now. I would just want so many answers off him as to how he behaves, and I don’t think I would get the answers I want.

You’re God for the day. What’s the first thing you do? Everyone deserves a second chance. So I would let everyone choose a regret and change it for the better.

If you could travel back in time to a period in history, what would it be? The Wild West. The freedom to travel and explore a unique time in history. We live in a ultra-connected world, and I love the way we communicate now, ie Facebook, et al. But there is a purity to how the world was in the Wild West days, and that holds a lot of appeal to me. Camping under the stars and herding the cattle seem like a honest way to earn a living.

If you could perpetuate a myth about yourself, what would it be? I have a full head of curly hair but choose to shave it off!

What would your super power be and why? Invisibility. I am a people watcher and love to see what people get up to.

What would you do with a million pounds? I am a proud Freemason, so some charity giving and then invest in my future. As a mason in the West Midlands, we look at local charities that are in need of help, but on a personal level Macmillan Cancer Trust did a great job of looking after my mother in her later years with cancer. As for investing in my future, I am always conscious of the last financial crash and how badly that affected me, and I would not wish to be in that situation again. With that in mind, I think bricks and mortar are always a sound investment, so a few houses to use as rental income, should I ever need it.

What’s your greatest extravagance? Gadgets! Can’t buy enough. Current fave are Amazon dots.

If you were blessed with

Who are you enjoying listening to? Foo Fighters. They are touring this year and I have tickets. Rock out!

What unsolved mystery would you like the answers to? What really happened to the dinosaurs.

What would you take to a desert island? Solar powered

torch. I am a huge advocate of solar energy and it solves so many of the current power issues we have in the world.

What’s your favourite film?Gladiator. The best opening sequence of any film. It all starts

with the Barbarians coming under attack from the Romans, and, with your 5.1 Dolby on and loud, you can hear the arrows being fired overhead to take down the Barbarian army. It is a film about struggle, from having it all in life and losing it, something some people live for real.

True grit: the Wild West

appeals to Craig

any talent, what would your dream job be? Singing. I always wanted to be able to carry a tune. To entertain is a gift.

What is the best piece of advice ever been given? In sales, we see a lot of people for the first time. Never sit down when your waiting, stand and wait for them.

What irritates you the most in life? Poor driving. Middle lane hoggers.

What should energy users be doing

to help themselves

in the current climate? Less is more! Turn off the

lights, use energy saving products; simple things but effective.

What’s the best thing – work wise – that you did recently? Eltek is part of the Delta Group of companies, a huge Taiwanese business. We are constantly pushed to do and be better. Fight for what we can do. Being part of that team that managed to secure a unique contract to supply both AC and DC products to one of the largest telecommunications companies in the UK was a very proud moment. It’s rare you can stand in a team and be justifiably proud of this sort of achievement. l

Foo Fighters

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