Mission Critical Power

GE Industrial Solutions

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ISSUE 8: December 2016

08

Intelligence debate: Will AI revolutionise data centre efficiency?

16

Flux capacity: Firms face huge power bill hikes next winter, warns supplier

20

Role play: Do data centres have appetite for balancing the grid?

Find a new gear Multi-mode UPS delivers quality and reliable power with 99% efficiency. See page 12

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IN THIS ISSUE

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32

Viewpoint Can artificial intelligence be used effectively in data centres? Ian Bitterlin believes intelligence of the human brain is required to turn data into actions

Infrastructure Load testing of data centre systems cannot be done in isolation if operators are to be sure they will not fall down when required

08 Insight The co-founder of DeepMind outlines how the firm has slashed cooling costs at Google’s data centres using artificial intelligence

28 UPS Uptime is crucial for large manufacturing sites and UPS has made sure that Noretyl AS can achieve trouble-free gas production

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GE Industrial Solutions

missioncriticalpower.uk

ISSUE 8: December 2016

08

Intelligence debate: Will AI revolutionise data centre efficiency?

News

16

Flux capacity: Firms face huge power bill hikes next winter, warns supplier

20

Role play: Do data centres have appetite for balancing the grid?

Find a new gear Multi-mode UPS delivers quality and reliable power with 99% efficiency. See page 12

Eaton and Nissan ink 10-year deal to provide 4MW battery storage unit to Ajax’s Amsterdam Arena

20 Demand-side Response

12

Data centres could play an important part in providing reserves but is there a will to participate in the energy market?

Cover Story GE talks scalable UPS systems and total cost of ownership

Comment

4

Energy Management

14

Power Quality

30

News

6

Demand-side Response

18

Infrastructure

32

Insight

8

Cooling & Air Movement

22

Products

38

UPS

26

Q&A

42

Viewpoint

10

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December 2016 MCP

4

COMMENT

The trickle down effect Following on from Scotland in 2008, England is deregulating its water market in April 2017.

You will then be able to choose your supplier as with other utilities such as electricity and gas. Advantages include potential savings from competition, bill consolidation for multi-site users and an increased focus on water services.

Water efficiency is not often a big focus for many firms. However, savings can be substantial, particularly for mission critical sites such as data centres, which often require significant volumes of water for cooling systems.

Moreoever, while competition reduce prices in the short to medium term, in the longer term, commodity prices tend to be cyclical, particularly when there are supply constraints.

Water may therefore become more of a business issue because it is becoming scarce - and not only in the obvious places. According to the UN, 40% shortfall of the available global water supply is expected by 2030. It is becoming business critical for this reason and costs will reflect that.

According to the UN, 40% shortfall of the available global water supply is expected by 2030. It is becoming business critical for this reason and costs will reflect that

use. By recycling the water, the city believes Apple will save up to five million gallons of water per year.

The recycled water will be sourced from the city’s sewage system, water that would otherwise have been less effectively treated. Aside from reusing water, the city has established that the treatment centre will be capable of reducing the mineral content within Apple’s data centre, enabling the consumer electronics giant to use it for cooling before sending it to the new facility for treatment.

The focus on water will only increase with time and companies need to be aware of the availability of the resource. Data centres will probably only site themselves where there is a plentiful source.

However, a hospital cannot be so choosy and will need to potentially reduce its water footprint to cut costs and leave enough for the rest of the locality.

Water deregulation will bring a focus to the often neglected area of water management through the increased market positioning of companies promoting water services. Reducing costs through water efficiency is good for business and also reduces the stress at a local level.

That is surely no bad thing.

A reflection of the critical business nature that water presents is shown by Apple running a wastewater treatment plant. Apple's data centre in Prineville, Oregon is to have its own wastewater treatment plant that will use grey water recycling to reduce water

Editor Tim McManan-Smith tim@energystmedia.com t: 020 3714 4450 m: 07818 545308 Contributing editor Brendan Coyne brendan@energystmedia.com m: 07557 109724 Circulation enquiries circulation@energystmedia.com

MCP December 2016

Advertising manager Harry Powell harry@energystmedia.com t: 020 3751 7863 m: 07557 109476 Sales director Steve Swaine steve@energystmedia.com t: 020 3714 4451 m: 07818 574300 Production Paul Lindsell production@energystmedia.com m: 07790 434813

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6

NEWS & COMMENT

Ofgem embedded benefits update adds to uncertainty ahead of auction Smaller power generators hoping to secure capacity market contracts in this December’s auction will take little comfort from Ofgem’s update on the review of embedded benefits.

The regulator is trying to stop generation that is connected to the distribution network from receiving what it sees as too much money for helping suppliers avoid transmission network charges by effectively acting as negative demand during peak periods. The Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) demand residual payment, known broadly as the Triad payment, currently stands at about £45/kW, according to Ofgem. It predicts that will rise to £72/kW by 2020.

Both regulator and the government think that is too much – and is distorting the capacity market, because small generators, with £45/kW Triad benefit in their pockets, can bid

low, undercutting the larger new generators that government wants to incentivise.

In an open letter published four days before the capacity auction was due to start, Ofgem suggested that it may end up implementing one of the proposals tabled by EDF or Scottish Power as a short-term fix ahead of a broader review of network charging. Suggestions by those generators include stopping generators connecting to the distribution network from June 2017 from receiving Triad benefit, or allowing them to keep Triad benefit – unless they have a capacity market contract.

While Ofgem said it has yet to make a decision on what to do, it will do so by middle of next year. In the meantime, it warned those still thinking about bidding for capacity market contracts that they should bid as if their revenues would take the biggest hit from the potential fixes on the table.

The regulator was going to follow ‘the rushed recommendations of large generation companies’ instead of conducting a full review “It would be prudent for participants in the CM auction to assume that by no later than 2020, TNUoS demand residual payments to embedded generators could be as low as the most significant reduction proposed in the code modifications and [amendments] under consideration,” warned the regulator.

The update was greeted with dismay from small

generators. The Association for Decentralised Energy said it was “disappointed” that the regulator was going to follow “the rushed recommendations of large generation companies” instead of conducting a full review.

Director Tim Rotheray said the wrong decision would affect businesses and the public sector as well as security of supply. He called for existing rates for generators to remain unchanged, known as ‘grandfathering’.

Analysts have suggested that capacity market outturn rates would have to at least double to incentivise large new gas plants. Meanwhile, government has already proposed to change regulations so that the capacity market supplier charge is collected based on gross, instead of net demand.

That would effectively remove a large chunk of revenue from embedded generators with capacity market contracts.

Commercial-scale battery storage in 2017 Automaker Nissan has outlined plans to upscale its battery storage unit from household to commercial scale. Alongside electrical partner Eaton, the firm also announced a 10-year deal to provide a 4MW battery storage unit to the Amsterdam Arena (pictured), home to football club Ajax.

The stadium unit will use some 280 used batteries from Nissan’s electric Leaf vehicles to provide back-up power, store its solar and wind generation and enable the Arena to earn revenues from grid balancing services provision.

With the memorandum of understanding inked, the contract for the project is to be signed in February with installation set to commence mid-2017. The project will cost €2.5m (£2.1m) and take 10 years to pay back, according to Nissan. However, that rate of return is dependent upon the value of peak shaving and grid service provision – if peak prices rise, the payback period will be shorter.

Announcing the Amsterdam deal, Paul Wilcox, chairman

MCP December 2016

of Nissan Europe, also confirmed that Nissan is now taking UK pre-orders for an expanded, six-strong domestic range of storage devices. Priced from €3.5k (£2.95m to €6k (£5m), units of various size will be available using both ‘second life’ vehicle batteries and new units. However, that price does not include installation, which Eaton will handle.

Frank Campbell, president, corporate and electrical sector, Eaton EMEA, said domestic installation costs would range from about €500 (£421) to €1,500 (£1,260), depending on the complexity of works required.

Orders placed today would be installed by mid-2017, the company said, with a similar timetable predicted for commercial-scale battery storage units, according to Campbell. He went on to say that battery storage – for both commercial and residential markets – is approaching a “tipping point”. Payback periods, he believes, will come down rapidly over the next five years, potentially more quickly in the UK, given energy price volatility.

missioncriticalpower.uk

7 Price spike 'shows market working', says Grid National Grid’s second capacity market notice saw day ahead prices spike to £800MWh and balancing market prices soar towards £2,500MWh. The system operator issued the call on 7 November at midday for 4.30pm as demand appeared set to outstrip supply by 87MW. The notice was subsequently cancelled just after 3pm.

Speaking at a Policy Exchange briefing later that afternoon, National Grid executive director Nicola Shaw said those price spikes indicated that the capacity market was doing its job.

“I have sympathy [with those who perceive

Be careful what you wish for, we don’t want intervention all of the time, there is a balance to be struck inertia within government departments responsible for energy] but also, be careful what you wish for,” said Shaw.

“We don’t want intervention all of the time,

there is a balance to be struck.”

National Grid was “focused on finding ways to make the [current] market work and I do think the market is working”, said Shaw. “The capacity market notice is one example [of a functioning market] – providing information to which people react: coal ramped up because prices were high and they could make money out of it,” she said.

“That is how things balance without us having to intervene all the time and I would rather be in that world than a world in which we have to intervene more.”

Data scientists are the future of energy management BT is looking to hire data scientists in a bid to unlock greater energy efficiency throughout its operations.

Head of energy and environment Scott Balloch told delegates at XEnergy in London that the firm had already saved more than £200m a year through energy efficiency investment. Now it seeks further gains and Balloch believes a new breed of energy manager will be

required to deliver them.

While there is “still a role” for mechanical engineers and traditional disciplines, Balloch said he sought an “evolution in the types of skill-set that we need from energy managers”.

That is, a “much more datacentric approach”.

Hiring data scientists and training them in the fundamentals of energy management, he said, may

pay greater dividend than vice versa, “because they have the ability to think about things in a different way and identify sources of efficiency that may not be obvious”.

BT, said Balloch, consumed about 1% of the UK’s total electricity, “so we have to pay close attention to it”. He added that rising non-commodity costs rather than wholesale prices “keep me awake at night”.

Power prices ‘set to rise 5-10% in next 12 months’ as Brexit bites Power prices could rise 5-10% over the next 12 months due to the impact of Brexit on Sterling, according to one of Europe’s largest economic consultancies.

Mike Huggins, a director at Frontier Economics, told the Energy Live News conference that the fall in Sterling would translate to price increases in core energy commodities that would inevitably result missioncriticalpower.uk

in significant hikes in power prices.

“All energy commodities are traded in dollars or euros. We had seen increases of 5-10% increases pre [Sterling] flash

crash, now we are seeing 15-20% increases on things like gas, oil and coal,” said Huggins.

“That will have a quite major effect” on power prices, he added, though it might take a year or so to fully materialise.

While he predicted a dip in UK energy consumption of 1-2% over the next 12-24 months, it would not fully mitigate an increase in prices, said Huggins.

Rewrite rules for energy storage and demand-side response Policymakers are being urged to rewrite power system rules to unlock the full potential of demand-side response and energy storage and save billions of pounds.

A report from think tank Policy Exchange recommends amending the Electricity Act so demand response aggregators can participate fully in the balancing and wholesale markets. It also called for three-year contracts within the capacity market for those technologies. Meanwhile, distribution network operators need better incentives to move towards active management of a smarter power system, it suggests.

The report stated that creating a regulatory licencing regime for storage could stifle innovation. It called for policymakers to update the Electricity Act 1989 and associated grid codes to define new activities such as storage and demand response. It also repeated calls to tackle the issue of ‘double charging’ of storage assets, both in terms of environmental levies and network charges.

To enable aggregators to sell flexibility into the wholesale and balancing market, Ofgem should either allow unlicensed parties to access the market, or aggregators should be granted special regulatory status, the report suggests.

Policy Exchange also called for an overhaul of the rules governing distribution networks. It suggests that they are still too focused on build solutions as opposed to smart solutions and that incentives for innovation are far too small.

Meanwhile, the report backed government moves to regulate diesel out of the balancing markets via emissions performance standards.

December 2016 MCP

8

INSIGHT

The DeepMind AlphaGo programme beat the world champion of the ancient Chinese game of Go four games to one in a televised event watched by 250 million people

DeepMind AI: From Atari games to climate change via 40% cooling savings at Google The co-founder of DeepMind outlines how the firm has slashed cooling costs at Google’s data centres and its plans for the artificial intelligence as a service en route to tackling climate change and global poverty. Brendan Coyne reports

G

oogle’s datacentre engineers were deeply skeptical that an artificial intelligence (AI) that learned to ‘think’ by playing classic Atari video games could cut data centre cooling costs. But they were wrong.

It slashed them by 40% and improved overall power usage effectiveness (PUE) by 15%.

Datacenters consume around 3% of the world’s power and the firm aims to sell its AI learning as a service to more of them – and into other powerintensive business sectors. But DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman is ultimately training the mind he helped to build on bigger problems.

“What is the state of the global environment? Eight MCP December 2016

hundred million people have no access to clean water – and that is set to double over the next decade. Eight hundred million people are malnourished – and yet a third of the food we produce is wasted,” he told The Curve’s XEnergy conference.

“We would need 3.1 planet Earths to sustain the global population at UK consumption levels,” he added. “So there is a lot at stake.”

Feast after the famine Since DeepMind was acquired

by Google three years ago, it has all the data it can eat. But the feast was preceded by a famine, said Suleyman.

“Pre-Google, getting access to data was difficult, so we

trained [the mind] with Atari games,” he said. “We created a small world. All we passed to the algorithm was raw pixels that describe what is happening in any moment in any frame in the games.”

They built everything from scratch, said Suleyman, with the goal simply to maximise the score. “We trained the algorithm to play games, but to learn new knowledge, not our knowledge, limited as it is.”

The algorithm, said Suleyman, got pretty good.

In the Activision 1980 classic game Boxing, “it worked out a clever trick where it could pin the opponent in a corner – and from that position there is no way out”.

Post-Google, feeding on

You can learn really interesting linear versus exponential power efficiency curves that were very surprising and unintuitive to the human operators that had been running the system for some time

missioncriticalpower.uk

9 data, the algorithms became more powerful and took on increasingly complex games.

Earlier this year, the DeepMind AlphaGo programme beat Lee Sedol, 18 times world champion of the ancient Chinese game of Go, four games to one in a televised event watched by 250 million people.

The game, in which the aim is to surround opponent’s territory, has more possible configurations than the estimated number of atoms in the known universe, according to Suleyman.

Bigger challenges Now DeepMind wants to apply its artificial intelligence to bigger challenges. Climate change, with carbon emissions driven largely by energy consumption, is pretty big.

Power demand from datacentres is expected to triple in the next decade and within the Google fleet, that consumption is “non-trivial”, Suleyman noted. “So we were able to create a model that reduces the energy – and cost – required to cool Google’s datacentres by 40%.”

The engineers, he said, “were very cynical about whether we could do that.” But DeepMind did, improving overall PUE by about 15%. Now the firm aims to launch its optimisation engine as a service platform to other data centre operators and to power intensive sectors more broadly.

The overall objective was to maximise PUE by removing the heat from incoming compute load as efficiently as possible while respecting known temperature and safety constraints.

Key to enabling new insight was “data, data, data”, said Suleyman, in two key areas: state data, such as sensor and meter data that describes the physical behaviour of the utility; and action data, such as “how many cooling towers are turned on, how many chillers are active at any given moment, what are the set points of various pressure and temperature valves, flowrates and so forth”. missioncriticalpower.uk

The ability to shift loads to different parts of the system, given the type of incoming compute demand and the temperature, actually allowed a much more flexible and fast adaptive response to the kind of conditions that the data centre team were seeing at any given moment

That threw up about 1,200 different state variables, and for each of those variables were about 20 actions, said Suleyman.

Those were aggregated into around 120 state representations combined with a series of actions, both continuous and discreet, that would throw up suggested actions to optimise PUE within safe operating constraints.

“Essentially [it is] a very general framework to solve datacentre prediction,” said

DeepMind learned to ‘think’ for itself by playing classic Atari video games

DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman is ultimately training the mind he helped to build on bigger problems Suleyman. “There’s a bunch of state inputs, a bunch of actions, and just like we did with Atari and AlphaGo, we are learning to correlate state with rewarding behaviour.”

The aim was also to maximise long-term reward over short-term gains and for the system to predict the degree of confidence in the suggested actions delivering those rewards.

Machine learnings Insights gleaned from that approach defied conventional wisdom in three key areas, according to Suleyman: “The first is that more cooling equipment, not less, brought to bear to run the system turns out to be much more valuable.

So if you spread out load really thinly over lots of bits of kit and run them all at a lower level of capacity … you can learn really interesting linear versus exponential power efficiency curves that were very surprising and unintuitive to the human operators that had been running the system for some time.

“Second: Higher flow isn’t always better. A lot of the engineers believed that they should be concentrating flow through the chiller a great deal, but if we put less flow through the chiller it turns out that … the global energy consumed across the system was actually much more efficient.

“Finally, the ability to shift loads to different parts of the system, given the type of incoming compute demand and the temperature, actually allowed a much more flexible and fast adaptive response to the kind of conditions that the data centre team were seeing at any given moment,” said Suleyman. “And that turns out to be very valuable. “ The methods DeepMind used for Google’s data centres are “inherently general, large-scale optimisation systems” that will work “reasonably effectively in a wide range of environments” subject to enough appropriate data, said Suleymen.

“So we are really starting to look at what this might look like as a service we can bring to the market outside of Google.” l December 2016 MCP

10

VIEWPOINT

While DCIM produces lots of good data formats that enable the user to make wellinformed decisions, it needs the intelligence of the human brain to turn the data presented into actions

Artificial intelligence in the data centre?

Can AI be of use in running data centres effectively, asks Ian Bitterlin

T

his issue I have been asked to write about the opportunities for optimisation provided by applying artificial intelligence (AI) in the data centre, and immediately struck by the thought that applying human intelligence would be a good place to start.

Is it ‘intelligent’ to refrigerate hardware that can run continuously at 32°C inlett? Or design for full load when most facilities never rise above 50% for the first five years? Or to fit bullet-proof glass, biometrics and vehicle-traps into a facility that mainly houses a pricecomparison website for online dating services? Anyway, let’s look at AI first.

Intelligence is an attribute that enables the possessor to assimilate and process information to its own benefit by creating and applying adaptions to its behaviour – MCP December 2016

DCIM has no definable return-on-investment (RoI). It is a (very) niceto-have that is expensive but does nothing that you can’t do with a BMS and some spreadsheets given a little time, understanding and applying intelligence

and even for its very existence as Darwin postulated. Homo sapiens owe their development from the cave to today to the application of their capacity for applying intelligence to their place in the world around them – albeit, of course, together with an innate capacity for stupidity in spades.

Here we must not confuse the intelligence of Einstein in mentally visualising the mechanics of the universe with instincts like the craftiness of the fox or the ability of salmon to return to the precise spot of their spawning every year. In fact, the very best AI we can boast of today hardly even approaches those instincts. What we call AI is the collection of data, storage and processing with algorithms written by humans or complied by machines programmed by humans. So far there is nothing ‘artificial’ about it except for the speed and accuracy – it never

gets tired, bored, distracted or forgetful so it appears to be clever.

Lagging behind nature Our ICT progress is exponential in terms of processing speed and memory capacity but we are far behind nature and set on a path that will never catch up. For a good read on how far we must go, find a book written in 2006 by Raymond Kurzweil entitled The Singularity is Near – fascinating, albeit rather optimistic but it is clear the world’s fastest supercomputers are currently only capable of downloading the neural network of an insect so ‘true’ AI is far away from reality in the data centre.

So, given that AI in the data centre M&E infrastructure is embryonic in its hype-cycle, how far have we got with basic control and, ultimately, automation? As Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) said, missioncriticalpower.uk

11 “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”, so monitoring is the prerequisite to all forms of control and we have had controls in the form of building management System’s (BMS) in the data centre since the very beginnings of the industry in the 1950s.

BMS have always tended not to ‘manage’ anything (which is a good thing) but, rather, gather status and alarms and display them centrally so that ‘someone’ (if watching) can react to an undesirable event. They have developed from physical annunciators of engraved plastic mimic panels with embedded status lamps and an alarm buzzer through to multi-screen SCADA displays that the operator can use to drill down into the sub-systems such as UPS or cooling. One almost unnecessary step was (and still is) when the controllers of the sub-systems (eg UPS) are duplicated within the BMS instead of simply being on a separate screen.

Logically the act of having a dedicated system display rather than a screen-within-a-screen has always seemed preferable to me but BMS have gotten more feature-rich, complex and expensive, rather like having a microprocessor controlling the time in a toaster. Anyway, the BMS is alive and well in the data centre and is, at best, an alarm-manager and, at worst, can turn things on and off. The perfect BMS is one that reports everything but controls nothing or, if it has a control function, fails in a benign way.

In parallel to the BMS the ICT departmen, the other silo in the data centre, runs spreadsheets or software packages for asset management – logging where hardware is installed and with some monitoring or recording of the power consumed. Some of these software packages are quite sophisticated for load-planning but always need human intelligence to be applied to ensure the ‘question’ is within the physical limits of the infrastructure. A prime example is where the missioncriticalpower.uk

modules for power and cooling to create DCIM a product.

software will allow the user to install 15kW in a cabinet without ‘warning’ but the cold aisles are only 1,200mm wide and the raised floor can’t get enough cooling air to the front of the cabinet. As a point for further discussion, the most sophisticated loadplanning tools use mini-CFD applications but these, despite looking mighty powerful and predicting hot-spots etc, are never based on the reality of each server varying its fan speed with IT load.

The next development was to add an energy management system (EMS) although often this was/is an add-on module to the BMS. Fitting the right sensors in the right places allows the EMS to record and report on every aspect of the power flow in the data centre with constant updating of the annualised PUE etc. The key for our purposes here is the ‘M’ in EMS, just like the ‘M’ in BMS, doesn’t manage anything – EMS simply presents the data for you to interpret and act on.

You are the manager.

A window on the world And so we arrive at the latest incarnation of ‘smart’ in data centre management, data centre infrastructure management (DCIM, pronounced dee-sim).

Many industries have this desire for ‘one-window-on-their-world’ and DCIM claims to provide that window for the data centre.

Pulling together a picture of power, cooling, fire, cabling and ICT hardware position, asset management and utilisation DCIM regurgitates data in ever-better load management suggestions and pretty pictures.

DCIM has only started on its journey and does not yet fulfil its promise. It does not ‘manage’ anything, just like BMS and EMS, and, importantly, does not usually replace BMS. If it does appear to replace BMS then it is usually because its OEM used to make BMS and added an asset management and load-planning module to their product. From the other direction load-planning software OEMs have added

We must not confuse the intelligence of Einstein in mentally visualising the mechanics of the universe with natural instincts… the very best AI we can boast of today hardly even approaches those instincts

No artificial intelligence Now don’t get me wrong, DCIM produces lots of good data in very attractive formats that enable the user to make well-informed decisions, if they have the staff and time to look at it. The downside is that DCIM doesn’t manage anything and therefore cannot save you any energy or optimise anything. It has no artificial intelligence and needs human intelligence to turn the data presented into actions.

And in that statement is the rub; DCIM has no definable return-on-investment (RoI).

It is a (very) nice-to-have that is expensive but does nothing that you can’t do with a BMS and some spreadsheets given a little time, understanding and applying intelligence.

So what is the future of controls like DCIM in the data centre? Well, in my opinion, only when the DCIM monitors the incoming IT workload and is told (by the hypervisor?) where it is going and then controls the power and cooling system to minimise energy consumption will it fulfil the ‘M’ in DCIM. But which will take control, the DCIM or the hypervisor – or are they both together just the ultimate manifestation of a future DCIM? Will anyone trust automatic centralised control?

What about redundancy, security, hackers? There is also the problem that the fastest growing data centre sector is collocation where, more often than not, the data centre operator has no control over the ICT stack so DCIM is almost impossible to justify.

Back to the question: can AI be applied in the data centre?

Algorithms written by humans, yes, and probably soon, but may not be adoptable in our paranoid-ridden industry. Real AI is probably more than 50 years away. l Ian Bitterlin is a consulting engineer and visiting professor at Leeds University December 2016 MCP

12

COVER STORY

UPS systems with low cost of ownership and long life GE provides clean, efficient and reliable power for today’s digital world with the ultra-high effi ciency TLE Series UPS

E

very business executive, IT professional, facilities or operations manager, regardless of their industry, understands the textbook definition of total cost of ownership (TCO).

Total cost of ownership, the sum of capital expenditures (CapEx) and operational expenditures (OpEx), is a critical metric to understanding true and long-term costs when designing a new facility or selecting equipment. Yet with the explosion of data centre expansion, identifying TCO variables when specifying, building and operating a data centre may be more elusive, costing companies millions of pounds every year.

Energy is one of those critical TCO variables because data centres are significant consumers of energy. Servers and data equipment account for 55% of the energy used by a data centre, followed by 30% for the cooling equipment to keep the facility operational. Electrical power distribution losses, including uninterruptible power supply (UPS) losses, consume an additional 12%, with 3% used for lighting.

to significant operational cost savings.

For example, let’s look at a 1% efficiency improvement for a UPS deployment at a 10MW data centre. While CapEx is fixed, a TCO evaluation of the OpEx costs of operating a UPS over 10 years creates an operational saving of £1.3m when energy efficiency improves by a single percentage point − from 93% to 94% efficiency. With newer UPS technologies that offer up to 96.5% efficiency, that saving jumps to almost £2.8m.

Therefore, a 1% gain in energy efficiency matters.

Huge savings Savings of millions of pounds are available to data centre managers who apply a TCO model when purchasing components for critical power systems. This is particularly true for energy-intensive equipment, such as UPS systems, where electricity costs can easily exceed their purchase price in only a few years, but also where energy efficiency ratings of a few percentage points can add MCP December 2016

FG Wilson Engineering is an official partner to GE Energy Connections in Ireland

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13

GE invests in new scalable UPS system

G

E has more than 50 years of experience in the manufacture of UPS systems and so an expandable UPS system from GE may not sound like new technology.

However, the new TLE Scalable UPS from GE gives a new dimension to the UPS market. It delivers reliable, power-scalable UPS systems with low total cost of ownership and long life.

The TLE Scalable is available from 40 kW, vertically scalable to 120 kW per cabinet and horizontally scalable to 720 kW. The TLE Series operates in VFI On-Line mode and is designed to meet the growing demand for longer life and lower annual costs.

How does it work?

The TLE series is designed with serviceability in mind. To extend its operational lifetime, TLE Scalable offers easily replaceable consumable parts for a longer life with constant reliability.

Instead of costly power modules as back-up on the shelf and high material repair costs, the missioncriticalpower.uk

TLE Scalable provides effective remote diagnostics and onsite repair of almost any component resulting in lower repair costs.

Replacing expensive and cumbersome power modules is not required, therefore avoiding high material costs and logistical problems.

The TLE Scalable UPS is equipped with connectors at the front and ventilation is through the top. This means the UPS can be installed in tight spaces needing only front and top access without compromising on capability, durability or service access. Our local service teams are available 24/7 to offer the support that you need.

High efficiency The UPS is designed around digital control of a three-level inverter technology, offering a very high efficiency, especially

at lower loads. The TLE Scalable UPS is optimised for the most common load range of 50 to 75%, with an efficiency performance of over 95%. GE’s unique redundant parallel architecture (RPA) offers unparalleled reliability and availability, which means that even during maintenance and serious disruptions to the security of your critical equipment, your load is fully supported.

A complete and modern system Each TLE Scalable UPS is equipped with the unique PMAD package (Preventative Maintenance Advanced Diagnostics) which warns of imminent failure and therefore reduces downtime. ‘Waveform Capture” and ‘capacitor diagnostic monitoring’ are also

included to simplify and speedup repairs. The TLE Scalable is provided with a magnetic switch for the prevention of back power supply ( back-feed protection), a feature which is lacking in many alternatives or is limited to a signal that requires external or optional components.

The TLE Scalable is also equipped with a manual bypass, which reduces the need for additional external switchgear to perform maintenance and repairs, thus reducing any associated risks. The TLE Scalable technology takes its lead from the successful TLE series UPS systems, which are already available from 160kW to 800 kW UPS modules and up to 4,800 kW in RPA mode. l To learn more about GE’s TLE Series UPS, visit uk.geindustrial.com

Key facts about GE’s TLE Series UPS • Clean input performance with 0.99 input power factor and <3%THDi • Double conversion efficiency up to 96.5% • Output power factor 1 • True front access design • Tax benefits available through ECA scheme/Energy Technology list • Compact foot print • Improved user interface • Extremely low output voltage distortion • Superior battery management

Key facts about GE’s Scalable UPS • Vertically scalable from 40 to 120kW per cabinet • Horizontally scalable up to 720kW • Very high efficiency in double conversion (VFI) mode • Low TCO due to serviceability of individual cassettes • Fast MTTR, requiring only front service access • 10-20% more power than comparable solutions • Touch-screen colour display

December 2016 MCP

14

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

A fair assessment of energy efficiency?

Energy efficiency could be the cheapest way to deliver energy policy goals while making UK firms more robust. But current policy, such as Esos, appears to be let down by lack of enforcement and poor execution, experts tell MCP

E

nergy efficiency is arguably the cheapest way to deliver security of supply and reduce carbon. Yet policy focus appears to be firmly on the supply side. Companies appear equally reticent about energy efficiency, applying hurdle rates far higher than applied to other areas of business expenditure.

It is possible policies such as Esos will make some inroads by showing businesses how they can make savings. But those involved in the scheme are unconvinced.

Garbage in equals garbage out, they suggest. So what will make UK plc take action?

Energy consultant Mervyn Bowden, managing director of Intuitive Energy Solutions and former head of energy at Marks & Spencer, thinks it may take some form of benign dictatorship to ensure that energy efficiency is enforced. “That is what it needs: government to say ‘this is what we are going to do because it is about the national good and it MCP December 2016

has got to happen’. How different is it from putting a speed limit on a road?”

Opportunity lost?

The current policy thrust for improving energy efficiency among larger organisations is the Energy Savings Obligation Scheme (Esos). While there are signs that the regulation may be raising awareness of energy saving measures, Bowden believes that Esos represents a “massive missed opportunity” because it does not require businesses to act upon energy audit recommendations.

Andrew Warren, chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation, thinks Esos is a reasonable start, because it requires directors to sign off energy audits, thereby compelling them to undertake financially viable measures. That theory appears to be borne out by initial data from MCP sister magazine The Energyst’s readership survey, which suggests that a significant

That is what it needs: government to say ‘this is what we are going to do because it is about the national good and it has got to happen’.

How different is it from putting a speed limit on a road?

proportion of firms that have completed an Esos audit have taken subsequent action. But others think increased awareness may not necessarily translate to outcomes.

James Summerbell, a director at Noveus Energy and former head of energy at Tesco, says: “What we are seeing with Esos is that larger companies view it as a compliance exercise because they are already doing most of what it entails.

“There is some evidence with medium-sized companies that Esos is opening their eyes to money-saving projects,” he says.

“But we are not witnessing a Damascene moment as a result of Esos. Those companies are not suddenly coming up with integrated energy plans.”

Part of the problem, Summerbell suggests, is the quality of Esos audits is highly variable. But he is not convinced that requiring companies to act upon Esos recommendations, as Bowden suggests, is a good idea. missioncriticalpower.uk

Sponsored column

“If consistency and quality of lead assessors under Esos was improved, that would probably lead to a better outcome,” says Summerbell. “But ultimately, if a company is just not interested, and they are not being forced to invest to reduce their consumption, then there isn’t much you can do to legislate for that without going down the CRC route again – and I don’t think anyone has any appetite for that.”

John Mulholland, of Mulholland Energy Solutions, says Esos has been let down by its execution. It was, he suggests, “a study in incompetence”.

Poor Esos audits “Part of the reason that the Esos recommendations are not being implemented is the poor quality of the Esos audits,” says Mulholland, a lead assessor who undertook 36 audits. “The vast majority of audits were done by an unqualified army of auditors with no experience of doing Esos audits. And some of the Esos lead assessors have proved their incompetence because they have passed these audits as compliant when they clearly were not.”

According to the Environment

Agency, 65% of a sample of 51 compliance audits needed remedial action to pass.

Instead of making clients pay for lead assessors, the Environment Agency should have ensured it had “competent people within the Agency to check each of the audits,” says Mulholland. “Because the government wasn’t willing to pay for it, lead assessors had to be paid for by the client. And what did the client want? The cheapest possible thing. So what did they get? Crap lead assessors and crap audits. There was a race to the bottom on price and no effort put into quality,” he says.

The upshot, says Mulholland, is that it makes selling energy efficiency improvements to boards that already view it as discretionary spend even more challenging. “I would say that the quality of a lot of recommendations, based on the price people were paying and the way it was done, would not be fit for purpose,” he says.

“Therefore I would not blame the management for not investing [in energy efficiency recommendations on that basis].” l

Who should advise on government energy policy?

If government policy is putting the cart before the horse in terms of supply before demand, is it getting the right advice? Mervyn Bowden, managing director at Intuitive Energy Solutions, thinks not. He has mooted a crosssector coalition of the willing to create a simple set of plans that work for industry and policymakers – and help to avoid expensive mistakes.

“I would be very happy to assemble a small group of seasoned professionals from this industry to put forward to Greg Clark and his department a set of pragmatic, commercially viable options which are independent and uninfluenced by vested interests,” says Bowden.

The group, he said, would also benefit from expertise outside of the energy sector, such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. “All of those bodies have experts in their own fields that are used to being very objective about process-driven improvement. I think they could be of considerable benefit to the energy sector,” says Bowden. “Taking bureaucracy, multiple consultations, political and commercial interests out of the equation I think would make for a far more effective pipeline of solutions than the present arrangements.”

If you are interested in forming such a group, drop Mervyn a line at: mervyn.bowden@ intuitiveenergysolutions.com missioncriticalpower.uk

DNOs go with the flow as they make the transition to DSOs

Photo shows a line voltage regulator that will boost reliability as distribution networks receive more electricity from renewable energy installations Peter Jones, ABB Technology Strategy Manager These are interesting times for our distribution networks.

They are set for some profound changes as they evolve from their historic passive model in which electricity flowed in just one direction from producer to consumer via overhead lines, cables and substations.

Distribution networks now have to cope with the complex 21st century world of distributed generation, renewable energy resources, smart meters, electric vehicles, heat pumps, energy storage, microgrids and demand response mechanisms. This complexity requires active system management to integrate the many different points of supply and consumption and to control the multi-directional flows of electricity between them, as well as interfacing with the wider grid.

The situation is summarised very well in a number of recent documents published by UK Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). They portray a vision for the evolution of the energy sector towards a smarter system that can only be made possible if DNOs embrace the modern technologies and operating principles that will ensure effective coordination between all the producers and consumers they serve. Effectively, the current role of the DNO will be extended to that of a Distribution System Operator (DSO).

Embracing modern technology will enable the DSO to build a flexible network capable of managing the flow of electricity at many different points to deliver enhanced security and quality of supply, along with improved energy efficiency and reduced costs.

Creating this new DSO vision will require the interconnection of many different types of equipment – metering, switchgear, transformers, voltage regulators and so on. However, the key enabling technologies are already commercially available and on trial in a number of networks. But there is a crucial factor in addition to the interconnection, and that is in establishing the monitoring, control and communication systems that will integrate them within an over-arching actively managed network.

The potential benefits of the DSO model are huge. Just one example is to enable the aggregation of resources dispersed across the network so that they can operate as virtual power plants (VPPs) to facilitate both local balancing of supply and demand, as well as offering balancing services at the distribution/transmission system interface.

For distribution networks the future may no longer be just about putting more wires in the ground. It is going to be more about a process of evolution to help existing infrastructure to work harder, smarter and with greater flexibility.

16

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Firms ill prepared for ‘huge’ capacity costs on energy bills A typical large energy user could take a £1m hit next year due to government policy

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he capacity charge is levied upon energy use on winter weekdays (November to February) between 4pm and 7pm.

Businesses consuming power during those times will face a steep increases in charges, warns business energy supplier SmartestEnergy.

The firm outlined the kind of hike users may face in a recent webinar. For example, a large energy user consuming 100GWh per year may use 5%, or 5GWh, during that winter evening peak, suggested Mark Cox, key account manager at SmartestEnergy.

“This winter [given the small volume of DSR-based capacity involved in the mechanism], that would equate to a capacity market bill of about £12,000,” he said. “Next winter, 201718, that £12,000 will become almost £1m.”

Cox said the firm was trying to highlight the impact the capacity market would have on bills to customers and intended to levy a fixed monthly contribution throughout the year to avoid a bill shock in April when actual capacity costs are calculated.

“Personally I am not too sure all businesses are ready for the scale of these costs coming through on their bills. Especially if you are a large energy user, this is a huge cost, which is coming through soon,” warned Cox. “You must be making contingency in your budgets.”

A poll by the firm suggests Cox’s fears are well founded.

Just 30% of respondents said they had accounted for the cost of the capacity market in next year’s budget.

SmartestEnergy’s modelling for the outturn, or price, of the next capacity auction, beginning 6th December, ranges from MCP December 2016

£33kW to £48kW. Head of pricing Gavin Baker said the auction was unlikely to be competitive given the volume of prequalified capacity, standing at 53GW, with the behaviour of some 1.5GW of new diesel likely to affect the final price.

Rising Fits, CFD and RO Meanwhile, the firm warned of rises for most other noncommodity costs. Including the cost of exempting the most energy intensive industries from rising renewables costs, SmartestEnergy predicts Renewables Obligation costs will increase by about 20% to £19.63/MWh for 2017-18, which would add £30,000 to an annual 10GWh power bill.

30%

of respondents to a SmartestEnergy poll said they had accounted for the cost of the capacity market in next year’s budget

Even a £3 charge, which we expect to see come through next year, is about an extra £30,000 for every 10GWh of power – and by 2018/19 every 10GWh will be costing almost £60k in CFD payments alone

SmartestEnergy predicts small-scale FiT costs will increase by about 14% in 201718, and rise by another 8% in 2018-19.

Large-scale subsidies via the CFD FiT will also hit bills next year and harder the year after, from £0.76/MWh today to £3.78MWh next year, £6.01MWh in 2018-19 and £9.10MWh in 2019-20, according to SmartestEnergy.

“On current projections, the FiT CFD cost is really going to come through after this year – be ready for it is our message,” said Cox. “Even a £3 charge, which we expect to see come through next year, is about an extra £30,000 for every 10GWh of power – and by 2018/19 every 10GWh will be costing almost £60k in CFD payments alone,” he added.

“So if you submit longerterm budgets, do account for the CFD charge. It isn’t significant yet but it is going to be soon.”

Triad warning The firm also warned I&C businesses to consider the impact of other market levers on the Triad mechanism.

While companies have become used to turning down for what they think will be the highest half hourly winter evening peak, Cox said the effect of the capacity market occurring simultaneously may mean the Triad period potentially “stretches beyond the traditional 5pm-6pm peak”.

“It is going to be interesting,” said Cox. “What we are saying is not to try and target any one half hour [to hit Triad], but try and keep that [reduction period] as wide as you possibly can.” l smartestenergy.com missioncriticalpower.uk

18

DEMAND-SIDE RESPONSE

Energy suppliers eye demand response aggregators’ lunch Energy suppliers have been most active in targeting industrial and commercial firms in order to build demand-side response portfolios, Ofgem data suggests

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he energy regulator’s survey of end users as well as aggregators and suppliers largely confirms data compiled for MCP sister title The Energyst’s 2016 DemandSide Response report in terms of perceived customer and market barriers. It also appears to suggest that energy suppliers are making concerted efforts to build demand-response portfolios, in direct competition with aggregators.

Ofgem’s survey, largely completed by industrial and commercial companies, found that 29% more firms that do not currently participate in DSR had been contacted by suppliers than aggregators.

The regulator cautioned against extrapolating its survey findings to the entire I&C market but suggested that were the survey data reflective, I&C firms could provide around 3GW of demand reduction and around 1.9GW of turn up.

Unsurprisingly, Ofgem found that businesses would rather receive availability payments than payments for utilisation.

However, in contrast to The Energyst’s recent survey, it found that fewer businesses would consider demand-response provision even if they could name their price.

Suppliers step up Some 55% of respondents to Ofgem’s survey said there was a price at which they would provide DSR, compared with 87% of firms The Energyst surveyed that said they would be interested in earning DSR revenues if operations were unaffected.

Ofgem’s findings appear to confirm a view that energy

MCP December 2016

Suppliers want a bite of the DSR aggregation market

There is clearly a desire from big suppliers to get into the aggregation market but they do not have track records or experience [in DSR aggregation] suppliers are becoming more active in the demand response market. Some market analysts believe that suppliers can outmuscle aggregators.

“If you are a utility with a large I&C customer base, it is exceptionally valuable to you,” says Baringa Partners manager Eamonn Boland.

“Most of the suppliers who have that I&C retail electricity supply base are looking to move into DSR aggregation, either through acquisition of a start-up aggregator who has the technology and the key

people, or building it organically because they have that very clear route to market.”

Boland says utilities also have the advantage of brand recognition.

“A large retailer or smelting plant would be quite slow to hand control of key pieces of kit to someone that does not have that brand recognition, or that they don’t know in the market,” he says.

Business threat Aggregators recognise the threat to their business. However, some believe that energy suppliers may not be sufficiently nimble.

“Suppliers are trying to find ways to integrate [DSR] into their business models and looking at ways to give better value to their customers.

They are all looking at it,” says Limejump boss Erik Nygard.

3GW

Amount of demand reduction I&C firms could provide

Limejump is an aggregator which also holds an energy supply licence.

“The problem [suppliers] will face is whether they have the ability to adapt and scale to the market changes. You never want to underestimate anybody, but on the large utility scale, their real option will be to acquire businesses to get there.

Getting there themselves is going to be a 10- or 15-year type game,” he adds.

Alastair Martin, founder of aggregator Flexitricity, also believes that suppliers may find the market tough to crack.

“The one-stop shop idea is much less attractive than the large suppliers really understand. The demand response prospect has to stack up on its own,” he says.

“There is clearly a desire from big suppliers to get into the aggregation market but they do not have track records or experience [in DSR aggregation].”

Martin believes I&C customers are “increasingly sophisticated” and will weigh any proposition on merit.

“They will buy electricity supply from whoever gives them the best price and the best data services. They will buy energy efficiency from whoever is best at energy efficiency and they will buy demand response from whoever is the best at demand response,” he says.

There is clearly a desire from big suppliers to get into the aggregation market. Yes, they are making defensive moves but that is not to say their defensive moves will be successful. They do not have track records or experience [in DSR aggregation]. l missioncriticalpower.uk

20

DEMAND-SIDE RESPONSE

Can data centres play a role in the energy market?

Data centres could play an important part in providing reserves but is there a will to participate in the energy market and do we need to change the way we perceive the traditional roles of consumer, producer and balancer, asks Louise Frampton

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he energy market will increasingly demand flexible consumers and smart loads when moving towards sustainable energy production – data centres could offer a solution while reaping financial rewards, without compromising safety, argues Janne Paananen, technology manager at Eaton.

The results of a recent survey show there is increasing interest in participating in the energy smart grid among European data centres – with more than 55% saying they agreed or strongly agreed that they would consider selling spare energy from data centre power systems back into the power market.

The survey of more than 300 senior data centre professionals, from nine countries and eight industry sectors, found those with larger infrastructures are more likely to consider participating in the energy smart grid. Among the findings: • 64% of respondents with 500

MCP December 2016

or more racks either agreed or strongly agreed that they would consider selling spare energy from their power systems back to the market • 69% of respondents with 100-499 racks would consider participating • 66% of those with 50-99 racks also expressed an interest • 47% of those with 20-49 racks agreed or strongly agreed • 44% of those with 5-19 racks would consider participating It appears size is a factor in influencing attitudes to engaging with the energy market. The level of enthusiasm varies but there is interest across all sectors – from telecoms and transport and logistics, to banking and financial services and beyond. Although more than half said they are open to participating, the research suggests there is still a ‘confidence gap’ in skills and expertise.

Speaking at a presentation at Datacenter Dynamics Europe in London on 1 November,

Paananen said: “As we use more and more renewable energy, we will need more reserves.

However, there is a need for greater understanding of how the energy market operates, as well as how to take advantage of the capabilities of modern UPS technologies. In some cases, the knowledge is outdated.”

Sharing his insights into the experience of the Nordic market, he explained there is an increasing demand for renewable energy generation but this can also create volatility. Although essential to fight climate change, the rise of renewable power forces new developments in energy management systems and balancing the power system becomes more challenging – calling for both short-term and long-term solutions.

Bi-directional technology Paananen discussed how the capabilities of modern power infrastructures offer data centres opportunities to participate in

balancing the power market. To address some of the challenges presented by renewables, ‘virtual power plant’ can provide a solution – the data centre UPS can provide a reserve.

“Modern UPS technology has moved from being uni-directional to bi-directional,” said Paananen.

“Traditionally, power can be fed from the grid to the load, charging the batteries at the same time. If there is an outage, power can be taken from the batteries to the load. However, power sharing is also enabled with existing technologies, so some of the power can be taken from the batteries and some from the grid.

“You can make a short-term peak shaving or long-term energy buffering. In addition, for the past 10 years, we have been able to put excess energy from batteries back into the grid, allowing discharge of batteries independent from load level. The technology is very flexible in terms of how you manage the power, which makes it very attractive for smart missioncriticalpower.uk

21 grid applications,” Paananen explained.

Typically, a 2N UPS design runs at around 25% of the design load. It is necessary to achieve 10 minutes back-up with 50% of design load (if one side is available).

“If you have 10-minute backup time as the target, when you are running with half a load, you already have some excess storage spare,” he continued.

“With the lead acid battery, if you go to 50% load level, you actually have 40% more usable energy which you can take.

When the UPS is running at around 25% of the design load, you have 67% more usable energy. This means that when the UPS is running at typical load levels, you actually only need a very small amount of the usable energy to meet the required back-up time. This excess energy can be used for other applications.”

Paananen went on to explain that fast frequency response (referred to as FCR-N in the Nordics) provides the fastest reserves when there is an issue with the grid: “If a power house drops out, there is a need to balance this. Fast primary reserves are required which support the grid; then slower products replace this.”

He added that the operating principle involves charging and discharging continuously to maintain the frequency within a statutory target of 49.9Hz-50.1Hz. This is demanding for a battery – for this type of application, lithium batteries are best suited.

However, Paananen pointed out that these tend to be expensive. In the future, when the price of lithium batteries comes down, as they become more widely used in data centres, this will be more prevalent, he predicted.

Additionally, it is possible to discharge occasionally as frequency drops (referred to as ‘FCR-D’ in the Nordics.)

This activates only when the frequency falls below the set limits – recharging at low power when frequency is normal or opting not to participate.

The maximum discharge missioncriticalpower.uk

time is limited from seconds to a couple of minutes. As it is only used when there are disturbances, it is not demanding for the battery and participation is therefore suitable for data centres using lead acid batteries.

“Data centre professionals need to understand that the energy market is a daily market which operates a day ahead.

People can decide whether they want to offer power for the following day, for which hours, and how often. Alternatively, they can choose a price point at which they want to bid,” said Paananen.

There is freedom to choose ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how much’, with multiple ways of approaching the market, while being a member of a group of reserves gives extra flexibility.

Furthermore, Paananen emphasised that data centres can participate in the energy market in a safe way.

In a scenario where batteries are used with a generator or as part of virtual power plant, 30 minutes of FCR-D could be offered at rated UPS power by starting the generator when the battery approaches 10 minutes remaining (the desired back-up time) for the actual load. Based

Modern UPS technology has moved from being uni-directional to bi-directional, so power can be fed from the grid to the load, charging the batteries at the same time Janne Paananen

Figure 1: An hourly FCR-D market, highlighting the participation time and compensation per year, the average compensation per hour and the volume in the hourly FCR-D market. Source: Juha Ulvinen, Eaton – thesis, Aalto University (2016)

on data from 2013, the generator would never have been started.

“During the worst event in the Nordics, in 2013, the reserves were regulating for three minutes in a row. If you sold 1MW regulating capacity of one hour), the amount of energy used from the sold capacity, during the worst hour, would only have been 8%. This is a small amount of energy,” commented Paananen.

Returns vary from market to market, and from year to year, making it hard to predict the returns on investment for the large purpose-built energy storage systems that are required – typically, the return on investment for the UPS is between two and three years, Paananen estimated. As data centres have already invested in the infrastructure for critical operational applications, any returns are an additional advantage, but the financial gains can be significant (see figure 1).

The future Saara Rantanen, originator at Fortum (one of the largest power generators in the Nordic power market), commented: “Growth in renewable energy is necessary to decarbonise our energy system. However, it also forces the energy system to develop: we need technical developments, energy market development and we need to change the way we perceive the traditional roles of consumer, producer and balancer. In the future, these roles will continue to increasingly over-lap.”

Paananen concluded that the future grid and energy market demands flexible consumers and smart loads when moving towards sustainable energy production; this can be best achieved through virtual power plants and utilising large consumers, such as data centres.

Modern UPS technology is capable of managing power in many ways, moving it in different directions – it is very flexible, making it well suited to this application. Data centres can retain full control and can choose to offer their reserves to market when it suits. l eaton.eu/datacenters December 2016 MCP

22

COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

Managing your heat load As heat loads change so should your cooling, says Andrews Sykesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sales director Carl Webb

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t the heart of many businesses is a data centre, a crucial component in day-to-day operations that is relied upon by all departments from sales teams to HR. With the average cost of network outages experienced by companies each year amounting to approximately ÂŁ55,000, and despite data centres playing such an important role, organisations can sometimes overlook the smaller aspects of data centre management, which can result in much bigger consequences.

Data centre design Data centre design does not stop once the data centre is up and running, especially where air conditioning is concerned.

The fixed air conditioning in a data centre will have been selected due to its capabilities aligning with the expected heat load. However, as servers are added and moved around to make space for more units, the anticipated heat load is likely to change.

As servers are added, consider the layout of the data centre. Ensuring servers are distributed evenly throughout will encourage air flow, a crucial component in temperature control.

Hotspots can also be challenging and are a common problem faced by data centre managers. If you are at risk from localised hotspots, portable cooling fans are especially useful as they will dissipate the heat by creating increased air movement. Given the size and weight of this type of cooling fan, it can be plugged into a standard power supply and easily moved around the data centre in line with requirements.

Hotspots and the server distribution are two common MCP December 2016

Portable units can be strategically positioned within the data centre data centre challenges.

However, as more and more servers are required by the business and added to the server room, eventually the heat load will become too much for the fixed air conditioning to handle. In this situation, data centre managers should consider upgrading their fixed air conditioning solution or incorporating the use of portable units to control the temperature.

Emergency heat load management Despite many data centres having a back-up air conditioning solution in place, there are a number of reasons, in addition to increasing numbers of servers, why an emergency solution may be required. For example, the data centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fixed air conditioning may be undergoing maintenance or there may be an unexpected sharp rise in temperature.

Portable units tend to be recommended in emergency situations and for short-term hire while maintenance,

Data centre managers should consider upgrading their fixed air conditioning solution or incorporating the use of portable units to control the temperature

inspections and upgrades are taking place. The size of the data centre and its layout will determine the best cooling solution. For an emergency situation within a large data centre, fluid chillers are an ideal solution, providing significant volumes of cool air to quickly bring an overheating data centre back to an optimum temperature.

Smaller server rooms are more suited to compact split system air conditioners.

Connected by a flexible line, an external condenser unit can be placed up to 30m away from the room unit, which is ideal when space is limited.

Time is of the essence As with all emergency situations, speed is key. Installation speed must take into consideration the location of the server room and access points.

For a very tightly packed space with little room to manoeuvre, portable PAC 22 units are the most suitable solution and can be strategically positioned among the servers. These can be quickly and simply plugged into a standard power supply.

Where access is restricted, chiller units can be placed outside the location, connected to air handling units with temporary ducting taking cool air into the affected area.

Having a back-up or emergency solution on site is a major benefit of purchasing a unit. Some suppliers are in fact able to deliver a solution to site within as little as four hours. By appointing a specialist supplier and developing a contingency plan, this will not only ensure you have the most appropriate solution for the job, it will also be expertly installed and positioned for maximum efficiency. l andrews-sykes.com missioncriticalpower.uk

COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

23

Breakthrough in green energy for data centres As a result of a four-year collaboration with Climeon, US-based Aligned Energy has developed a fully integrated platform that can power its next-generation, ultra-efficient data centres in the US and globally with 100% clean electricity using low-temperature waste heat

M

ore than 50% of the world’s energy is lost to the environment as lowgrade heat, effectively making waste heat a largely available but unused resource. Climeon Ocean takes hot water between 70 and 120°C and converts it to 100% clean electricity.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, Climeon’s technology has a large potential to reduce the CO2 impact globally, which resulted in the company receiving WWF’s Climate Solver award earlier this year.

Climeon CEO Thomas Öström says: “To meet the challenges of climate change, the world needs new clean energy sources. The Climeon system is just that, producing 100% clean energy and a new baseload for electricity.”

Aligned Energy CEO Jakob Carnemark adds: “We have entered a new era of innovation in how we power and cool data centres, one of the fastestgrowing users of energy and

water in today’s digital economy.

“In most cases if you want to use clean electricity, converting solar and wind power are the typical methods. However, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. By cultivating this largely untapped resource in waste heat and converting it to 100% stable green baseload power, and by being able to use low temperature geothermal sources, we can support the data centre industry’s rising demand for green energy in ways not previously possible through this new, highly sustainable and reliable approach.”

Earlier this year, Aligned Energy was recognised with a 2016 Edison Award for pushing the envelope in technological energy advancements through its highly-optimised data centre heat removal cycle (the Cactus Cooler system) that allows its data centres to cool themselves using up to 85% less water and 80% less energy while also

A Climeon Ocean 50MW unit guaranteeing an industry-low average of 1.15 PUE (power usage effectiveness).

Aligned Energy will leverage its heat removal cycle as well as deploy Climeon’s Heat Power technology, which it claims will perform at twice the efficiency as the best organic Rankine cycles from significantly lower temperature heat sources, in its data centres.

Last autumn, Aligned Energy opened the industry’s first ‘pay-for-use’ ultra-efficient, next-generation data centre in Plano, Texas just outside Dallas, a 30MW complex that offers consumption-based utility pricing for on-demand data

centre capacity for large cloud and enterprise clients requiring greater control of their data centre cost and faster time-tomarket.

With its second data centre in Phoenix, a 51,000sq m, 62MW campus scheduled to come online in early 2017, Aligned Energy has charted a course to reach the 100% green carbon neutral data centre by tackling the industry’s welldocumented power, cooling and water consumption issues while lowering operating costs.

The partnership includes an initial planned delivery of eight Climeon Ocean modules with a capacity of 1 MW. l

19% energy savings, ROI less than a year

T

elecommunications provider Daisy Group is successfully using EkkoSoft Critical, a webbased 3D software and sensor offering, to manage its critical data centre facilities.

Used as part of a strategic data centre optimisation service by advisor EkkoSense, the solution has already helped to reduce energy costs by 19% at one of Daisy’s key UK data centres and the project is set to achieve a full missioncriticalpower.uk

return on investment in under a year.

EkkoSense Critical (pictured) presents a real-time 3D view of one of both physical and thermal data centre dynamics. Using this real-time data, EkkoSense

consultants have helped implement changes to provide Daisy with real business benefits.

Thermal compliance is achieved with hot spots removed to place all IT systems within ASHRAE recommended ranges.

Daisy head of business continuity operations Les Price comments: “While the initial brief was to look at energy savings in one of our data centres, we were delighted that the solution also identified

potential thermal risks from both over- and under-cooling.

We worked with EkkoSense’s consultants to make immediate long-term changes to our cooling strategy to eradicate this risk – preventing outages and at the same time benefitting our bottom line by saving energy costs. We have now asked EkkoSense to carry out similar engagements using the software in our other data centres.” l ekkosense.co.uk December 2016 MCP

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STANDBY GENERATORS

GE generates uninterrupted operations at Malaysian refinery GE is supplying its proven 616 diesel engine technology to ensure productivity is not lost during power outages at a new oil refinery complex in Malaysia

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he majority of world’s largest refineries are situated in the AsiaPacific region. With four million barrels of oil produced each day by the top five refineries in the region, Asia’s growing importance as both an energy source and destination market is clear.

Located in Johor, Malaysia, the development of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) group’s Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) will soon give a boost to the region’s energy output. Upon completion, PIC’s refinery will be able to produce 300,000 barrels of oil per day, while the petrochemical plants will produce 7.7 million metric tonnes of various chemical products each year.

Through a strategic partnership with Petronas, GE will supply 17 emergency diesel generator (EDG) packages, five transportable switch rooms and the electrical balance of plant for the new refinery.

The equipment will be provided by various GE businesses through the company’s GE Store., “a marketplace built on

GE’s 616 diesel generator set MCP December 2016

GE’s 616 diesel generator set addresses the most critical application challenges with advanced reciprocating engine technology

imagination”. Each EDG package will consist of 616 diesel engines provided by GE’s Distributed Power business, which will be coupled with the generators and electrical equipment.

Uninterrupted operation The 616 diesel engines play a critical role in enabling uninterrupted operation to ensure high productivity. These generators will be switched on to provide continuous power if the complex experiences an unexpected power outage.

Integrated into one single package by GE’s Power Conversion business, GE’s 616 diesel generator set addresses the most critical application challenges with advanced reciprocating engine technology.

It combines and enhances the proven technology of the Jenbacher J616 gas engine with the P616 locomotive diesel engine from GE Transportation – bringing together both efficiency and productivity.

Flexible layout The integrated package has a more compact design. While the low component count means less installation costs and higher system reliability, the modular design also brings flexibility to the plant layout, thereby helping to optimise plant design.

Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO, water and distributed power for GE Power, says: “This is an important project for us and for our customer. It not only marks the largest 616 diesel order in Malaysia for GE but it also is the first in the country.

“By leveraging the broad capabilities of the GE Store, we are able to provide a unique competitive advantage by using our proven technology across industries to provide our customers with the best possible solution to meet their needs.”

Francesco Falco, global sales leader, GE’s power conversion business, adds: “Engaging and leveraging different strengths from across GE businesses through the GE Store, we are able to offer core technologies to the marketplace faster and increase value for our customers,.

“Today, the industry is an exciting place to be. Emerging technologies and newly built energy infrastructure are changing the way we live.

We are proud to be a part of this journey, helping reshape the world’s energy landscape.” ● ge.com

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UPS

No trade-off between reliability and efficiency The Galaxy VX UPS, a future-proof power protection solution for large to hyperscale data centres, contains the ECOnversion energy saving system and Lithium-ion batteries, delivering efficiency without compromising on reliability

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chneider Electric has introduced Galaxy VX, an efficient, easy to deploy, compact three-phase UPS with flexible operating modes for large facilities, data centres and business-critical applications.

This pay-as-you-grow solution will support enterprises in their move to hyperscale data centres, enabling them to reap the greatest value in their IT deployments by delivering efficiency without compromising reliability.

It is available from 750kW to 1.5MW ratings and can be paralleled to support multiMW load power requirement.

Schneider Electric senior product and launch manager Gael Souchet says: “Our customers have three main challenges. These are: risk management, encompassing reliability, ease of maintenance and safety; capital preservation; and reducing operating expenses. Galaxy VX addresses each of these with a variety of power architectures.

“ECOnversion technology provides the best compromise between 99% efficiency and reliability,” he continues.

“The technology deployed within the Galaxy VX system has gained market acceptance quickly and presents Schneider Electric customers with a resilient and efficient power protection solution, coupled with energy savings of more than £407,000 over the 10-year life of a 1.5MW UPS.” The Galaxy VX features a four-level inverter for greater reliability and efficiency.

MCP December 2016

The Galaxy VX will support enterprises in their move to hyperscale data centres

This presents customers with a power protection solution for their business, while enabling them to prepare for future energy storage requirements

£407K Typical energy saving over the 10-year life of a 1.5MW UPS

Lithium-ion batteries provide better power density than equivalent lead-acid batteries, yielding savings in space and easier maintenance, resulting in an improved mean time to replacement (MTTR).

“With Galaxy VX, we’re also providing customers with multiple energy storage options,” he continues. “This presents customers with a power protection solution for their business, while enabling them to prepare for future energy storage requirements.”

Intended for use in large data centres and colocation facilities, the Galaxy VX is rated at 1.5MW, 1.25MW, 1MW and 750kW. Up To 99% efficiency Galaxy VX fully integrates with Schneider Electric’s energy management solutions, including StruxureOn Digital Services for Data Centres and

features flexible operating modes to optimise the efficiency of IT environments, including: • ECOnversion Mode: With this new operating mode, Galaxy VX offers a hybrid between Eco Mode and Double Conversion Mode.

ECOnversion delivers double conversion performance with up to 99% efficiency • Double Conversion Mode: Through highly efficient Double Conversion Mode, Galaxy VX reduces switching losses using a four-level conversion technology. The reduced switching stress offers greater reliability and reduction in failure rate • Eco Mode: Galaxy VX offers a traditional economy mode but is now not required in Schneider Electric’s V series UPS as ECOnversion offers up to 99% efficiency with same reliability as Double Conversion The newest member of the Galaxy V family of power protection solutions, Galaxy VX integrates into the electrical, physical and monitoring environments of customers operating data centres, industrial or facilities applications. l schneider-electric.com missioncriticalpower.uk

UPS

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Increased power density for modern critical UPS EnerSys has introduced DataSafe XE batteries, designed in response to the evolving requirements of today’s critical UPS applications. Engineered with advanced Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) technology, DataSafe XE batteries provide high power capable of supporting short duration runtimes of less than five minutes

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hanges in the data centre industry, such as the advent of cloud storage, the shift to colocation companies and the growing trend towards modular, containerised power and a shift towards shorter runtimes have placed new demands on battery technology.

Today’s batteries must be capable of providing more power at shorter run times and able to operate in higher ambient temperatures, while lasting longer.

DataSafe XE batteries by EnerSys are claimed to be the first TPPL batteries to be designed to address the evolving data centre space. The construction of the batteries is key to their performance.

EnerSys manufactures DataSafe XE batteries using a grid fabrication process to maximise consistency and advanced, high purity structural and active material for optimum conductivity, electrical performance and energy efficiency.

Improved technology DataSafe XE batteries with absorbed glass mat (AGM) construction and TPPL technology reduce both grid corrosion and grid growth common in conventional alloyed valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries, providing optimum conductivity and performance.

The use of high purity materials also reduces gas generation within the cell.

As a result, the batteries can operate at a higher temperature, enabling users to missioncriticalpower.uk

Power-dense DataSafe XE batteries by EnerSys are engineered with Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) technology to provide high power and short duration runtimes of less than five minutes for today’s demanding UPS applications

4x

The shelf life of is quadruple standard VRLA batteries reduce cooling costs. The lack of impurities also improves battery shelf life by as much as four times compared with conventional batteries.

DataSafe XE batteries with TPPL technology pack more plates into each two-volt cell, yielding greater surface area and better active materials utilisation. With this energydense design, smaller, lighter batteries are able to achieve the same run times as larger standard VRLA batteries with reduced recharge rates.

Following a full discharge,

DataSafe XE batteries can achieve 100% state of charge (SOC) in 50% less time than conventional VRLA batteries.

Luca Cassani, UPS marketing manager, EMEA at EnerSys, says: “DataSafe XE batteries are specifically designed to

meet the needs of the evolving data centre market. We estimate that DataSafe XE batteries can reduce the total cost of ownership by up to 25% compared with conventional VRLA batteries.” l enersys.com

DataSafe XE key facts DataSafe XE batteries with TPPL technology reduce UPS operating costs through: • Enhanced energy density with sub five-minute discharge rates • Higher operating temperature, which enables the user to lower cooling costs compared with standard VRLA batteries • Longer operational life compared with conventional VRLA batteries • Up to four times the shelf life (24 months v 6 months) compared with standard VRLA batteries at 20°C/68°F

December 2016 MCP

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UPS

A dependable power supply for third largest chemical company Uptime is crucial for large manufacturing sites and Benning has made sure that the Norwegian ethylene manufacturer Noretyl AS can achieve trouble-free gas production

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n order to win through against the competition in ethylene and propylene production for the petrochemical industry, Norwegian chemical manufacturer Noretyl AS is not solely dependent on highgrade plant and machinery.

Of equal importance is having a dependable power supply system to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the factory’s core units. If production stops it would take several days to start it up again – a scenario that would result in considerable financial losses.

In Noretyl AS’s search for an experienced cooperation partner, capable of meeting its requirements, a decision was finally made in favour of Benning.

To accelerate the ripening process of different types of fruit and vegetables, many food wholesalers use ethylene (often called ethane). When used in ripening chambers, this colourless gas increases the rate at which green bananas turn yellow. By regularly replacing the ethylene in the air surrounding the fruit, the process is slowed down.

Particularly during long transport periods, common practices such as this mean certain fruits can be perfectly ripe at the time they are sold, so it is not surprising that this ‘miracle product’ is in high demand.

More than 150 million metric tonnes of ethylene are produced worldwide each year – and rising. At Noretyl AS’s headquarters in the

third largest chemicals company, which currently has 65 production units in 16 countries.

Bening’s Enertronic I touchpanel UPS Norwegian town of Stathelle, it has been operating a factory for producing ethylene and propylene gas since 2000.

As a subsidiary of INEOS Group Holdings, Noretyl AS is part of the world’s

A solution approach Benning won the order due to its long-term collaboration with Ineos in Germany.

Benning Sweden managing director Lars Riback says: “The pivotal factor in this decision was, above all, Benning’s comprehensive response to the customer’s initial enquiry.”

Through this analytical report, Benning showed how it would be possible to cope with the specific need for a low voltage drop in the event of a short circuit occurring.

Riback further explainsthat this reaction inspired considerable trust from the client – especially because,

IT infrastructure from smallest to largest.

ENCLOSURES

MCP December 2016

it_engl_engl_qr_420x105_2014.indd 1

POWER DISTRIBUTION

CLIMATE CONTROL

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ROL

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Chemical manufacturers need a dependable power supply according to information from Noretyl AS, no other solution concepts of this type were available on the market.

In June 2014, only one month after the order was placed, Noretyl AS was provided with a first proposal for four 100 kVA UPS systems.

In December, the scope of the project was enlarged to include a dual 230V AC distribution system.

A further enquiry followed in May 2015 and, after intensive

A particular challenge within the project was the client’s specification that, in the event of a short circuit on the secondary side of the load transformers, the voltage on the main bus bar should not drop by more than 10%

and detailed discussions during the summer regarding technical implementation, production in Bocholt started in August.

Voltage requiement A particular challenge within the project was the client’s specification that, in the event of a short circuit on the secondary side of the load transformers, the voltage on the main bus bar should not drop by more than 10%. To meet this requirement, the load

IT INFRASTRUCTURE

transformers would have to be sufficiently ‘soft’, so that they wouldn’t transfer the short circuit through to the main bus bar, but they’d also have to be sufficiently ‘hard’ not to fall below the voltage threshold under nominal loading.

Delivery within 20 months In February 2016, approximately 20 months after the first enquiry from Noretyl AS, the project was completed and included four 100kVA Enertronic I UPS, four 100kVA bypass transformers and Side A and Side B distribution systems each with a selection of 7kVA to 18kVA load transformers.

The delivered system provides an uninterruptible power supply of 230V AC for the most important functions throughout the whole factory.

It possesses the desired technical characteristics for fast delivery of the necessary short circuit current, while not allowing the voltage at the output from the UPS to drop by more than 10%.

This combination of UPS characteristics and load transformers made the project a success. l benning.com

SOFTWARE & SERVICES www.rittal.co.uk

missioncriticalpower.uk

December 2016 MCP 17.01.14 15:03

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POWER QUALITY

The power of good Choosing an energy monitoring device that has the ability to measure power factor is important in gaining an accurate overall picture of energy usage and planning efficiency measures

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he ability to monitor power factor (PF) as part of overall energy use can be extremely useful in planning and implementing energy-saving initiatives in high consumption facilities.

Power factor is a measurement of how efficiently electrical power is consumed. In high consumption premises, the operation of plant and equipment such as motors, compressors, welding sets and even fluorescent lighting can introduce varying levels of electrical inefficiencies in the form of additional currents called ‘inductive reactive currents’ into a site’s electrical supply.

The power dissipated in a load is the product of the voltage and current. If a load is purely resistive, the voltage and current are in phase and all the power can do useful work. If a load has a reactive component (ie has capacitance or inductance) the voltage and current are not in phase. The reactive load causes current to flow but it can do no useful work.

The relationship between resistive (real) power and reactive power can be described by the power factor or phase angle. A purely resistive load has a power factor of one and a phase angle of zero (ie there are no electrical inefficiencies).

A purely reactive load has a power factor of zero and a phase angle of 90.

The relationship between apparent power, real power and reactive power can be represented in a power triangle (see figure 1).

Most loads have a component of each: ideally MCP December 2016

in terms of consumption, electrical efficiency would be around 1.00 PF (100% electrically efficient).

However, in a typical commercial or industrial site this inductive loading can cause it to be reduced to around 0.80 (ie 80% electrically efficient).

In a typical commercial or industrial site this inductive loading can cause it to be reduced to around 0.80 (ie 80% electrically efficient)

The effect on electricity costs If a load has a low power factor, more current must be supplied by the utility company than is actually needed. Organisations with a poor power factor are likely to be charged a premium for power by the utility company.

Therefore organisations with a low PF may well be wasting both energy and money: when it falls below a set figure, electricity companies will have to supply extra (kVA) to make up for the loss caused by poor power factor. They will often apply an additional charge to the KW being consumed, or the

Apparent power (S) measured in VA kVA

S

Q

Reactive power (Q) measured in VAR kVAR

Phase angle

Real or true power (P) measured in Watts

W kW

Figure 1: A power triangle shows the relationship between apparent power, real power and reactive power

whole supply may be charged as kVA. In addition to saving energy and reducing costs, as the power factor of a system is improved, the release of electrical capacity means that the total current flow will be reduced. This permits additional loads to be added and served by an existing system.

Choosing the correct energy data logger The ability to measure PF in a facility will indicate how effectively electrical power is being used. This will enable corrective measures to be introduced that can target the inductive reactive currents, counteract the inductive element of the load and increase electrical efficiency to nearer the ideal target of 1.00 power factor. Power factors can be corrected/ improved by the installation of newer equipment including dedicated integrated circuits, or installing specialist equipment.

To present an accurate measurement of power usage, it is important to choose an energy logger that measures both voltage and current usage and correlates the timing between the two to measure the power factor.

The Tinytag Energy Data Logger is a useful tool for identifying and evaluating energy saving measures. Costeffective, non-invasive and easy to use, it monitors single and three-phase power usage, and power factor, and can be used for spot checks or left to record for longer periods to help build up energy profiles throughout an organisation. ● tinytag.info missioncriticalpower.uk

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Extensive data centre testing Resistor manufacturer Cressall’s sales engineer Mark Templeman highlights why load testing data centres should accurately emulate the loading on the electrical system, the back-up system, automatic transfer switches and the HVAC system

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ork on the largest data centre in the world – 585,000 sq m, or roughly the size of 116 football pitches when completed – is currently under way in China..

The growing popularity of cloud computing and recent regulations regarding data sovereignty are the driving forces behind the new and technically advanced data centres appearing around the globe. With an ever increasing investment in the safe and reliable housing of data comes a growing need for stringent and extensive load testing of data centres.

The test phase Traditionally, load testing of data centres has comprised of testing individual systems separately, often as they are installed and the data centre infrastructure is still in a period of transition. Furthermore, testing has focused on the back-up generators and uninterruptable power supply systems with little thought on

Data centres are highly strategic sites with advanced equipment, such as servers and HVAC units, and are particularly sensitive to electrical power loss or fluctuations testing the associated ancillary equipment.

The commissioning phase of data centre testing is crucial.

Commissioning is the process that reviews and tests the data centre’s physical infrastructure and design, assuring it works

as one holistic system with the highest level of reliability.

Formal operations do not begin until the system is commissioned and so corners are often cut with regards to testing so as to speed up the process. Generally speaking,

this is where we start to see problems.

Data centres, especially modern facilities, are highly strategic sites with advanced equipment, such as servers and HVAC units that are particularly sensitive to

Unearthing the solution to copper theft Cresatech’s Simon Nash reveals how new technology is helping to alleviate the human and operational costs of copper theft

MCP December 2016

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t is a strange world where anyone would deliberately put themselves among power cabling energised at more than 100,000 volts, and then, Yet despite the inherent dangers, that is precisely what copper thieves do every day.

The issue has become a global epidemic. The market price of copper has meant that high-voltage equipment found at locations such as electrical substations, cellular masts, railways and sewage works are targets for criminals

attracted to the copper cabling used to keep it earthed. The theft itself could put the thieves – and indeed others inadvertently exposed to the risks of unearthed electricity – six feet under. That’s the very definition of grounded.

Organisations responsible for earthing infrastructure do not just have a duty to protect their employees and the community at large, they must also safeguard the people trying to rob them. Failure to do so can result in huge fines

and, potentially, imprisonment.

And it’s why copper theft should be treated not as matter of security – but as a matter of safety.

In 2008 in the US, an FBI study warned that copper theft posed significant threats to critical infrastructure, ‘disrupting the flow of electricity, telecommunications, transportation, water supply, heating and emergency services and presenting a risk to both public safety and national security’. Almost a missioncriticalpower.uk

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electrical power loss or fluctuations. This is why it is important for load testing to be undertaken in conditions that emulate the final working environment.

The goal of load testing data centres is to balance the electrical and thermal loads.

This means checking the electrical system’s functionality and the HVAC system’s performance in keeping the centre cool.

Rack load testing Before the operational launch of a data centre, the actual capacity of the servers should be tested to ensure there is no electrical power loss. It is also essential to ensure the network performance is as expected.

You do not want to get to the point of switching on and find the systems cannot handle the operational capacity.

The best route to testing is to use load banks to simulate the potential future load capacity.

Historically, there have been problems load testing the power and cooling systems simultaneously, so great caution should be taken at this stage.

To test accurately,

specialised load banks should be installed in the data centre racks, acting as server simulators mimicking loads.

These have selectable load and airflow ranges that can be set to match the electrical server load and airflow designed for each rack. This method also enables the air conditioning and cooling devices to be tested under working conditions.

Rackable load banks allow a more accurate test of where heat is generated and how it is removed from the sever room in comparison to floor-standing load banks.

Rack-mounted load banks are used to complete the final stage of commissioning – the integrated systems test (IST). IST is the pinnacle of the commissioning programme, because it demonstrates or dismisses the performance of the data centre as a whole against the project requirements. The commissioned systems are operated at various loads and in different ways to demonstrate fully automated operation and appropriate response to equipment failures and utility problems.

The theft of copper is a global epidemic decade later, the threats remain the same but the problem has not been curbed.

Unfortunately, security solutions do little to help identify incidence of copper theft. The alarms may sound, missioncriticalpower.uk

but they do not tell you what has actually happened on site. On their own, security measures are not enough to mitigate the risks of serious safety breaches. What is required is an ability to detect

Rackable load banks allow a more accurate test of where heat is generated and how it is removed from the sever room in comparison to floorstanding load banks

copper theft in real time and escalate an informed response before lives are put at risk.

Thankfully, technology has – quite ironically – unearthed the solution. New machine-to-machine (M2M) communications technology is alleviating the safety risks caused by copper theft.

M2M communication technology is now able to protect and monitor service environments where safety and continuity are paramount.

The technology provides immediate notification of the disconnection, removal or disturbance of site grounding

Conclusion The key to effective load testing is using the correct equipment to emulate true working conditions. Cressall’s French partner, Rentaload, operates across mainland Europe hiring a variety of load banks that are suitable for data centre testing. These can be either free-standing loads for testing the ‘white space’ or 19 inch rackable load banks specially designed for accurately testing data centre systems. These load banks are designed for server room testing during building, renovation or maintenance of data centres and provide an accurate perception of functionality under normal operating conditions.

Not every company requires the data storage of businesses like Facebook, the social media giant with a 28,000 sq m data centre in Oregon, US. Nevertheless, data centres big or small are critical pieces of infrastructure that should be properly tested during the commissioning phase; otherwise they could result in long-term problems and costly downtime. l cressall.com

or other power infrastructure .

Evidence shows that the adoption of safety technology is more prevalent in countries where electricity distribution operators are state-owned, than in privately owned markets where profit motives often drive decision-making.

However, as corporate social responsibility comes increasingly under the microscope, DNOs, energy companies and industrial giants would be advised to reinforce their grounding infrastructure with a focus on safety, rather than simply adopting a security-first approach. l December 2016 MCP

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Energy and IT innovators join forces at Wirral school A school on Merseyside has become the first to benefit from a new low-energy IT server

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edford Drive Primary in Birkenhead completed a £5m eco-friendly rebuild during the summer and, as part of the development, entirely overhauled its computer systems.

Merseyside firms Extreme Low Energy (ELE) and Hi-Impact Consultancy combined to install 45 new devices in classrooms, offices and the library, substantially lowering the school’s energy use and lessening its carbon footprint.

Through ELE’s infrastructure solution the school can expect to save a minimum of 70% in energy costs, benefitting from quieter IT equipment which produces minimal heat and boasts a longer lifespan.

ELE’s DC-based Intel powered computing solutions allow businesses to make these savings without compromising digital performance.

Mark Buchanan, founder of Extreme Low Energy, said: “We’re delighted that

ELE engineer Andy Morris and founder Mark Buchanan oversee installation of Bedford Drive Primary’s new lowenergy computer server

70%

Expected energy saving from ELE’s new technology

Hi-Impact saw the potential of our technology and adopted it when meeting Bedford Drive’s eco-friendly brief.

“It’s so satisfying to see this technology put to use in a real-world environment and performing so well in the classroom.

“This project proves the power of our IT solutions and

shows we can offer a cleaner, more energy-efficient solution which is easy to set up and brings real savings.”

Simon Sloan, operations manager at Hi-Impact, added: “As part of its rebuild the school was looking for greener solutions, reducing its impact on the environment and not wasting energy.

“We realised that ELE’s products would dramatically reduce the energy they used without any sacrifice in IT performance – in fact the technology is performing better than ever.

“We’re now looking to firm up links with ELE and hope to work with more schools across the region in the near future.” l extremelowenergy.com

Gassing transformers need continuous

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inish company Vaisala has demonstrated the role of online monitoring in keeping tabs on developing gas trends in a transformer and assessing the efficacy of repairs.

As part of a study conducted alongside Fingrid, Finland’s national transmission system operator, Vaisala deployed its Optimus online Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) device to monitor the removal of dissolved gases from a 400 MVA transformer.

The study demonstrates that, for transformers with a fault MCP December 2016

history, online measurement of dissolved gas levels is crucial, even after repair and maintenance work.

Once significant levels of fault-generated gases are detected in its oil, a transformer must be taken offline and have its fault diagnosed. Often, the transformer oil is also treated during or after the actual repair of the fault. This process is known as degassing. When the gases are removed from the oil, a new baseline reference is formed to detect any increasing gas trends in the future; this in turn is essential to reveal

internal thermal activity or fault, which generates gases.

It is difficult to achieve full removal of all dissolved gases, meaning that gas levels may begin to rise again shortly after degassing, even without any fault being involved.

As a result, online DGA monitoring is required, since a transformer continues in operation after the fault has been repaired. In conjunction with Fingrid, Vaisala equipped a 400 MVA power transformer in Finland with a multigas Optimus DGA monitor prototype, which remained in

place before, during and after scheduled degassing work.

The monitor tracked changes in dissolved gas levels in real time, demonstrating how, even after the transformer in question had undergone repair and initial degassing, an underlying thermal issue remained.

Therefore, using a multi-gas monitoring device in the future is essential to monitor this transformer continuously and with enough accuracy and good repeatability to illustrate gas trends consistently. l vaisala.com missioncriticalpower.uk

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MAINTENANCE

Streamlining lubricant analysis for improved efficiency Oil analysis programmes can help to improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs through extended oil drain intervals. With Mobil’s new system, customers can manage oil analysis from their mobile, tablet or desktop

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xxonMobil has launched Mobil Serv Lubricant Analysis, a new mobile-enabled used oil analysis service that will help operators to identify equipment issues before they happen and avoid unscheduled equipment maintenance.

The service, which replaces ExxonMobil’s SignumSM, helps engineers maintain a healthy and reliable operation.

When monitored regularly, the used oil analysis programme helps to enhance equipment reliability, reduce maintenance costs and unscheduled downtime, improve equipment durability and reduce lubricant consumption.

It can also help to extend oil drain intervals, which in turn improves safety by reducing intervention with machinery.

Designed to streamline the entire used oil analysis process from initial sample gathering to final reporting, the service leverages scanand-go technology with QR codes so customers can easily deliver used oil samples to ExxonMobil’s oil analysis laboratory.

Customers can then access results and customised equipment recommendations on mobile or tablet devices using a cloud-based app and share it with any other parties, as needed.

The new services package can also eliminate labels and paperwork and facilitates real-time communication of sampling scheduling and results. However, customers will still be able to manage and assess their reporting manually.

In addition, the system also

MCP December 2016

ExxonMobil’s SignumSM is designed to streamline the entire used oil analysis process

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The number of testing options available for oil analysis

offers improved response time to help operators protect their equipment and business.

Ayman Ali, ExxonMobil’s industrial marketing adviser for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, says: “The Mobil Serv Lubricant Analysis programme can be accessed via any mobile device and our new report layout and expanded trend analysis make it simpler for users to understand the diagnosis and act on our recommendations.

“The launch of this new service builds on ExxonMobil’s long tradition of providing leading used oil analysis services to companies around the world, enabling them to extend oil drain intervals and, in turn, benefit from

reduced maintenance costs and improved efficiency.”

The used oil analysis programme offers a full 360° analysis allowing operators to track productivity trends and spot any anomalies. With 25 testing options available, users are able to pick and choose the right test package for their operation.

The service is available now and customers previously registered to SignumSM will have automatically migrated to the new programme, along with their analysis history.

Mobil Serv Lubricant Analysis is a new addition to the Mobil Serv family, ExxonMobil’s new lubricants services brand launched in late 2015. l mobilserv.mobil.com missioncriticalpower.uk

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Products

Water-cooled chiller takes the heat off Stulz has announced the launch of its Explorer WSW water-cooled chiller. This flexible chiller unit is designed for use in a diverse range of mission critical indoor applications including data centres, communications rooms, industrial and commercial buildings, and telecommunications equipment centres.

Depending on the required cooling capacity, the Explorer WSW chillers can be equipped with either one compressor offering a cooling capacity of 230-430kW, or two compressors that provide 460-1530kW. It can be easily adjusted to different heat loads thanks to its two refrigerant circuits with semi-hermetic screw compressors and infinitely variable output sliders.

The Explorer WSW features standardised components including shell and tube condensers that can be set to operate at different temperature levels – for example, with well water, cooling towers or external recooling heat exchangers. The evaporation process in the refrigerant circuit is controlled by

electronic expansion valves, which use pressure sensors, temperature sensors and the Stulz C2020 controller to optimise heat exchange between the refrigerant and chilled water in the evaporator.

Following extensive customer consultation, Stulz identified clear demand for a compact, corrosion-resistant device that emitted low levels of noise. These features are encapsulated in the Explorer WSW and for noise critical

In-line meters Austin Hughes has added in-line meters to its InfraPower range of products, available in single and three-phase models.

In legacy installations where server and networking racks have basic power distribution units (PDUs) installed, inline meters are an ideal and costeffective upgrade option to allow real-time monitoring of the PDU. The in-line meter simply connects between the existing basic PDU and power source, eliminating the need to replace every rackmounted PDU installed and therefore shortening implementation time as well as cost to the end client.

The InfraPower in-line meter has a 1.8” colour LCD offers real time local data of current, voltage, power, power factor and energy consumption

MCP December 2016

applications a version is available that has extra acoustic insulation that meets the sound power level requirements of ISO 3744 and reduces them by a further 10dB. It also has high efficiency in partial load mode.

Depending on the service conditions, it can offer European Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ESEER) values of five or higher and also offers a variety of options such as automatic transfer switch, an energy meter for measuring total power consumption, soft start and anti-vibration mounts.

Brendan Leonard, managing director at Stulz UK, commented: “Ensuring that mission critical equipment maintains optimal temperature is essential as the consequences of excessive heat can be disastrous. We are therefore delighted to be able to help solve this issue with the Explorer WSW and its easy to use, touch controlled interface that offers the ultimate user experience and valuable peace of mind.” stulz.co.uk

Open source DC software of the entire PDU. This data has a metering accuracy to within ±1% to allow for accurate inter-departmental or client billing if required.

Two sensor ports for temperature and humidity monitoring in addition to cascade ports for network connection are included within the module.

Advanced remote PDU monitoring (and reporting function) is available using the free IPM-04 software, providing management for up to 800 PDUs. SNMP functionality is also available for PDU integration to third-party DCIM. Save IP reduces costs, is designed to support daisy chain connections; can support up to 16 in-line meters and can be cascaded via Cat6 cables. All the PDUs with in-line meters are remotely accessible via a single network IP. austin-hughes.eu

Eaton has launched new data centre monitoring software to provide IT managers with a holistic view of their IT installation’s infrastructure.

The new Intelligent Power Manager (IPM) infrastructure allows operators of IT rooms and data centres to understand and monitor data centre power, environmental and physical capacity metrics, quickly and easily within the context of their IT infrastructure. Using this information, IT managers can then plan changes, anticipate challenges and make intelligent management decisions to optimise efficiency and ensure business continuity.

One of the first adopters of IPM infrastructure is the host and telecoms operator Webaxys, which has deployed the technology at its recently opened data centre in Saint-Romain de Colbosc near Le Havre, France.

Emmanuel Assié, ceo of Webaxys, commented: “IPM Infrastructure has given us increased visibility of our racks, in particular on their power consumption and available capacity. The user interface is definitely intuitive, meaning both our technical teams and customers can quickly and easily check the status of their IT room.” eaton.eu/ ipminfrastructure

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PRODUCTS

Fuel cell combined heat and power system IMS Ecubes launched a fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) system at the European Utility Week conference in Barcelona in November. Providing electricity at kW scale, the system is the first of a planned range of fuel cell CHP systems that will ultimately provide electricity at MW scale, alongside useable heat. The current unit can be aggregated to satisfy higher energy demands, providing a flexible, modular solution.

IMS Ecubes CTO Ben Todd commented: “The IMS ECUBES CHP system allows power grid operators to bridge the gap between customer demand and the variability of renewable energy sources. The overwhelming majority of systems in place to address this issue generate significant carbon emissions. Our

A resource out of thin air Extracting CO2 from the air can contribute to the fight against climate change as it reduces the concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and may even be converted into renewable fuels.

A project called Coral is under way to determine which extraction process works best. The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) is coordinating the project.

Accoring to Ulrich Zuberbühler, deputy head of ZSW’s regenerative energies and processes division: “We want to demonstrate that key chemical compounds such as methanol, dimethyl ether and propylene can be produced using renewable resources only.

“CO2 extraction from the air will be particularly

MCP December 2016

important at remote locations. For example, wind farm operators on the Chilean coast could convert their electricity into the regenerative fuel sources hydrogen and methane in on-site power-to-gas plants.

“The CO2 needed for methanation could be extracted from the air so it would not have to be brought in thousands of kilometers. And there would be no need to build power lines because electricity is converted and stored as chemical energy.”

The waste heat from the electrolysis and methanation process can be used to generate CO2.

This would reduce the processes’ overall energy consumption, which is another important objective of the project. zsw-bw.de

fuel cell CHP system allows power grid operators to maintain the zero carbon benefits of renewable energy provision, during periods when there is little or no renewable energy supply to the grid.

“I believe that we are on the cusp of a revolution in the development and deployment of fuel cell CHP systems like ours and that they will become commonplace over the next 10-15 years, enabling more consistent zero carbon energy generation and supply.”

Already in discussion with a number of grid operators, IMS Ecubes is seeking utility partners with ambitious clean energy ambitions, keen to be part of the first wave of early adopters of this key enabling technology. ecubes.eu

Monitoring and security

Schneider Electric has introduced NetBotz 250 for more simplified data centre physical security. This new lowcost, scalable rack access control and environmental monitoring appliance proactively monitors critical IT assets in real-time, protecting against physical threats, environmental risks or human error that can disrupt IT operations and reduce reliability. NetBotz 250 can be used for IT deployments of varying applications, including environment monitoring only, rack access only or a combination of both.

NetBotz 250 offers native support for NetBotz-connected wireless temperature and humidity sensors for rapid and flexible deployment, while supporting additional wired sensors such as spot fluid, vibration and smoke detection.

These capabilities enable

detection of common environmental hazards, preventing outages and allowing for rapid response action to minimise downtime.

Rack access control functionality is available in two handle kits, at 125 kHz and 13.56 MHz reader frequencies, and restricts rack access to only credentialed users.

Configured alerts and outputs such as beacon alarms can be set up to notify IT staff in the event of a breach.

NetBotz 250 is compatible with APC racks and StruxureWare Data Center Expert. This provides centralised monitoring and management of the physical infrastructure and connected, networked devices to reduce energy consumption, protect system uptime and improve planning and operational performance. schneider-electric.com missioncriticalpower.uk

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42

Q&A

Paul Smethurst Hillstone Products’ director on saving Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Sons of Anarchy and gaining ‘street cred’ by working with Spotify Who would you least like to share a lift with? Well 2016 has certainly given a lot of choices to think about but as the leader of the unelected EU I would definitely take the stairs if the doors open to find it was occupied with Jean-Claude Juncker.

understand music. However, I did become popular with the kids this summer after we supplied load banks and server simulators to test a Spotify datahall, but sadly I soon lost any street cred when I refused to agree we should contra rental payments for lifetime subscriptions.

You’re God for the day.

What’s the first thing you do? There are a lot of issues in the world that need serious help but I feel it would take an act of God to stop the obsession in data centre land of wanting to become a three-day expert.

What unsolved mystery would you like the answers to? How exciting would it be to create an affordable superconductor that operates at room temperature? The significance of saving the planet’s energy problems would be a worthwhile sacrifice against no longer needing to make any more load banks.

If you could travel back in time to a period in history, what would it be and why?

Sarajevo, 28 June, 1914 to change the route taken by the driver of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s car and therefore hopefully change the outcome of the 20th century.

Who or what are you enjoying listening to?

I have now stopped listening to the radio with the woes of the England cricket team this winter, and as for music, my house is filled with the songs listened to by my teenage daughters, so obviously I am now too old to

What would you take to a desert island and why?

Of course I would need to have a load bank so I could ensure the island’s genset is loaded to at least 40% of its kVA rating. This will prevent the engine from failing due to wet stacking and to also burn diesel deposits in the engine and to prevent bacteria contamination of the bio diesel fuel.

What’s your favourite film (or book) and why?

I’ve started watching the Sons of Anarchy on Netflix, which would make a compelling case against any old favourite box office blockbusters.

If you could perpetuate a myth about yourself, what would it be? As a engineer of 20-plus years in load banks I now have assumed unrivalled longevity as managing director of Hillstone. The ability to pass this knowledge and experience to employees, customers and competitors is more about creating a legacy, which hopefully bridges the elder generation to the new generation starting their way in our industry.

What would your super power be and why? Being able to use hindsight but not being able to see into the future.

More of an ability to make the right decision at that particular time.

What would you do with a million pounds? It’s not that I don’t trust people but I think it would be a good idea to count it out by hand.

What’s your greatest extravagance?

Travel is expensive in cost but is also rich in its rewards. For the past 16 years I have visited many load bank customers across the world and met many interesting and wonderful people in promoting the Hillstone load bank brand.

A turning point in history: Archduke Franz Ferdinand moments before his assassination in 1914 MCP December 2016

If you were blessed with any talent, what would your dream job be and why?

Being out numbered three to one by the ladies in my house,

it must be the ability and talent to design shoes, handbags and clothes. This would certainly stop any discussions at home of generators, batteries and load banks.

What is the best piece of advice ever been given?

There is probably a difference between the best piece of advice I have received and the best I have actually used. When I first started Hillstone 21 years ago, I was told “look after your sales and everything else will look after itself”, which obviously has stood the test of time so far.

What irritates you the most in life? The self justification of battery impedance meters suppliers when we all know a load bank is the only way to test a battery.

What should the energy users be doing to help itself in the current climate?

We live in a world which is dependant on energy but, as a commodity, it is seriously under priced for its importance. Users need to prepare for paying a higher price for their energy.

What’s the best thing – work wise – that you did recently? The Hillstone design team have recently completed the generation two server simulator range. This will be released in the first quarter of 2017, to give high-power multi-voltage, with low delta temperature operation. The best part of this design is that the cost remains at the same low rate of industry leading series 1 load bank. ● missioncriticalpower.uk