Mission Critical Power

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ISSUE 14: December 2017

08

Kao’s new data centre gains recognition for energy efficiency, through innovative design

16

Uptime is at its most critical during surgery making it vital to have visibility of power performance

See page 14

22

How competent are data centre technicians? A worrying 29% pose ‘a potential risk’

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IN THIS ISSUE

16

12

Keeping an eye on the power

Viewpoint Are we underestimating the role of human factors in data centre failures?

Power monitoring is crucial for protecting patients undergoing surgery but it can also save money

8 Engineered for efficiency KAO’s new data centre has been designed for sustainabilty and resilience

22 Risky business Lack of energy resilience is putting £2.8m of annual business revenue at risk, according to a new report

39

missioncriticalpower.uk

ISSUE 14: December 2017

08

Kao’s new data centre gains recognition for energy efficiency, through innovative design

16

Uptime is at its most critical during surgery making it vital to have visibility of power performance

22

How competent are data centre technicians? A worrying 29% pose ‘a potential risk’

Cooling A staggering 95% of data centres do not perform cooling resilience tests, so is it time for change?

See page 14

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14

Optimising critical sites

Front Cover

Converged infrastructure solutions can improve efficiency

Schneider Electric

Comment

4

Energy Procurement

20

Energy Storage

36

News

6

Energy Resilience

22

Power Quality

42

Data Centre Design

8

UPS

24

Products

47

Power Management

16

Demand-side Response

26

Q&A

50

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December 2017 MCP

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COMMENT

Resilience and reward This latest issue of Mission Critical Power includes a major focus on energy resilience and sustainability, as well as the strategies being developed to tackle concerns regarding the long-term stability of the grid. Mission critical sites have the most to lose if we do not address these issues.

Rock Clean Energy's managing director, Chris Roberts, warns that it is becoming increasingly challenging for the system operator, National Grid, to ensure the system remains stable and to “keep the lights on” – at an affordable price for the end user.

Consequently, large energy users, such as data centres are being encouraged to consider their role in helping to stabilise grid, through schemes such as demand-side response (DSR), as well as potential onsite generation approaches that offer the long-term energy security that they require.

Overcoming misconceptions, allaying fears about perceived risk and promoting understanding of how assets can be used safely, to generate revenue streams, will be necessary to encourage mission critical sites to come on board with DSR in the future.

However, tackling the increasing pressures on the Grid must be made a priority in the short-term. Reducing energy consumption eases this pressure but also makes good business sense. Data centres have a lot to gain financially from reducing their energy consumption, through approaches

Editor Louise Frampton louise@energystmedia.com t: 020 34092043 m: 07824317819 Managing Editor Tim McManan-Smith tim@energystmedia.com Design and production Paul Lindsell production@energystmedia.com m: 07790 434813

MCP December 2017

Sales director Steve Swaine steve@energystmedia.com t: 020 3714 4451 m: 07818 574300

such as thermal optimisation and innovative cooling technology, which is explored in this issue.

While data centres have been given a bad press for being ‘energy guzzling’ enterprises, they are increasingly looking to renewable sources of energy and designing their facilities with sustainability principles at their core.

Our recent visit to Kao Data's new site provided an insight into some of the approaches they have adopted to ensure an excellent rating with BREEAM. Sustainability and energy efficiency remain high priorities for the sector and there is significant innovation underway.

However, energy resilience in the UK remains a major concern; Centrica's Resilience Report shows that businesses really need to up their game, as only 16% of companies are making energy resilience a top priority, while only 18% of businesses have a formal energy resilience strategy. A further 32% of businesses have no form of energy resilience strategy in place at all. The financial implications for business can be significant: for the typical UK medium-sized business, losses arising from an outage can equate to around £2.8m.

The need to improve energy performance in view of competitive pressures, legislation and corporate responsibility is increasing. In light of this, Mission Critical Power’s sister publication The Energyst has launched The Energyst Event and it will include a number of sessions that will be of direct interest to operators of critical sites. The event will take place 17-18 April at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham. Look out for more details in the coming weeks at: theenergystevent.com.

Louise Frampton, editor

Energyst Media Ltd, PO BOX 420, Reigate, Surrey RH2 2DU Registered in England & Wales – 8667229 Registered at Stationers Hall – ISSN 0964 8321 Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc

Commercial manager Daniel Coyne T: 02037517863 M: 07557109476 E: daniel@energystmedia.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers.

Mission Critical Power is a controlled circulation magazine available to selected professionals interested in energy, who fall within the publishers terms of control. For those outside of these terms, annual subscriptions is £60 including postage in the UK. For all subscriptions outside the UK the annual subscription is £120 including postage.

Circulation enquiries circulation@energystmedia.com

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6

NEWS & COMMENT

Data centre upgrade for new London-based colocation start-up Comtec Power, a specialist in data centre design and build, elite partner to Schneider Electric and a value-addedreseller (VAR), has won a contract to provide start-up colo company IP House with a critical data centre upgrade in London’s Docklands.

Once completed, the 16,000 sq ft, carrier-neutral facility will meet the requirements of the Tier III classification, to provide its customers with secure, resilient and ultra-fast colocation data centre services.

Situated next to the City of London and Canary Wharf, IP House is aiming to attract highvalue customers in the financial services, gaming and online gambling industries.

“We are currently in the initial stage of the data centre build, which will be delivered in two phases by Comtec over the next 18 months,” said Vinny Vaghani, operations manager of IP House. “Our first data suite is comprised of Schneider Electric’s InfraStruxure (ISX) integrated data centre architecture and has 14,000 sq ft of white space with a total

The upgrade of IP House, located near Canary Wharf, will include Schneider Electric’s data centre solutions of 216 racks – 192 of which will be available for customers when the facility is operational in 2018. Once the second stage is completed towards 2019, we’ll have a total of 512 racks with which to service our customers.”

London is well known as one of the world’s leading data centre hubs, and fears that Brexit would see a decline in growth for outsourced or hosted data centre services have been downplayed in a

new report by 451 Research’s principle analyst Penny Jones.

451 predicts that the multitenant-data-centre (MTDC) market will continue to grow throughout 2017, with an additional 423,000 sq ft of colocation space estimated to be available by the year end.

Given the staged upgrade of the facility, IP House has opted for a modular, pay-as-yougrow approach to deploying its critical infrastructure, using components of

Schneider Electric's InfraStruxure (ISX) Data Centre Physical Infrastructure solution, NetShetler SX Racks, Symmetra PX UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), APC by Schneider Electric Switchgear, NetBotz Environmental Monitoring and Intelligent Metered PDUs. All of which will be delivered under the watchful eye of Comtec Power’s experienced data centre design and build team.

“Capacity, scalability and footprint were important considerations of the initial design,” said Ian Gregg, data centre specialist at Comtec Power.

“The modularity offered

by Symmetra PX will allow IP House to expand its backup power as both the data centre and business grows. Its power modules and batteries have a smaller footprint than other products available in the market, meaning the space saved translates directly in the data centre, creating more room for customers' IT equipment.”

Siemens signs £11m battery storage partnership Siemens has launched a major new partnership with battery storage provider Grid Battery Storage Ltd (GBSL), initially covering a portfolio of four projects specifically geared to help National Grid better manage the UK electricity network as well as high energy industrial users to increase grid resilience as well as providing cost saving opportunities.

With agreements being currently put in place for the first project at Dorking, Surrey, the partnership consists of a total of 22MW and is expected to go live between the summer of 2018 and early 2019.

GBSL was formed by Andrew

MCP December 2017

Blumfield and James McKellar to realise the potential of battery energy storage in the UK. The partnership announcement follows the UK government putting battery storage at the centre of a distributed electricity system vision.

The government announced a £246m funding package for battery research and development alongside a plan to increase smart energy technology penetration in homes and businesses.

Through the new partnership, Siemens and GBSL will work together to offer grid scale storage coupled with a new ‘energy storage as a service’ offering. This service

offering will save industrial high energy users tens of thousands of pounds per year on the cost of electricity. This would be achieved while simultaneously helping to improve power quality and reduce production losses as a result of service interruptions.

The solution is designed to help businesses gain the benefits of onsite electricity storage without capital investment. GBSL will use Siemens SieStorage Lithium-ion battery energy storage solutions, and the projects will be financed by Siemens Financial Services in the UK.

missioncriticalpower.uk

7 Acquisition expands Legrand PDU offering Legrand has acquired Server Technology, a leading provider of rack power distribution units and power management software for critical infrastructures such as labs, data centres, and telecommunications facilities.

The acquisition will enhance Legrand’s global position in the data centre power industry and expand PDU offerings for key customer segments such as hyperscale, colocation and global enterprise end-users.

Server Technology will become part of Legrand’s Data Centre Power and Control division, which also includes Raritan.

Both the Server Technology and Raritan businesses will continue to operate independently, offering customers a broad array of products and solutions to meet the complex power demands of today’s constantly evolving data centres.

Server Technology’s robust offering of intelligent PDU product lines, including -48 VDC, as well as basic power strips, will complement Legrand’s current PDU and KVM offerings from Raritan and strengthen its ability to meet the complex needs of the data centre marketplace.

Increasing interest in battery storage Businesses surveyed by MCP sister publication The Energyst have significant appetite for battery storage but revenue visibility and regulatory uncertainty are investment barriers. Half of firms surveyed said they were mulling behind the meter storage projects, with about a quarter considering colocation and a quarter standalone batteries.

However, these definitions are not clear-cut. Some colocated projects may also be behind the meter and vice versa – and seven in 10 firms said they plan to combine batteries with other assets.

Battery Storage A business case for battery storage?

2017 Report

Produced by

Partners

A third of respondents believe their planned projects would pay back in 3-5 years, and just over a third 5-7 years. About four in 10

firms considering battery storage are already involved in demandside response. Two thirds of respondents plan to finance the battery internally, suggesting some appetite for risk, given lack of long-term visibility over revenue streams. Peak charge avoidance was cited by 58% as a means of monetising the asset, with 55% stating they would pursue frequency response, should they decide to invest in storage. Some 44% said they would try to make revenue from the capacity market.

Download the report at: https:// theenergyst.com/storage/

Value of energy flexibility set to rise The value of flexibility is set to rise from 2018 as power markets become more volatile and imbalance charges double, according to Ørsted’s UK sales boss Jeff Whittingham.

Speaking at the Emex exhibition and conference in London, Whittingham suggested that the revenues industrial and commercial firms can earn by helping energy companies balance their trading positions could potentially treble in the coming years. Ørsted, formerly Dong Energy, launched an imbalance product last year. It pays companies to adjust consumption or onsite missioncriticalpower.uk

generation so that Ørsted can better balance its market position and avoid paying high penalties.

Whittingham said the company remained “unchallenged” by other energy suppliers in providing that kind of balancing product, which it calls Renewable Balancing Reserve. However, facing incoming volatility due to increases in renewable generation and declining thermal plant, it is likely that other suppliers will launch similar products next year, when imbalance charges double to £6,000 per MW hour and are

set by the last MW hour rather than the current 50MW hours.

Citing a customer for whom flexibility currently represents “about 3% of total energy spend”, Whittingham said: “In the new world, I would put that in the 5-10% range. It will be a significant revenue stream.” Ørsted will be present at The Energyst Event, a conference and exhibition focused on the convergence of energy management, procurement and flexibility, held at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, 17-18 April 2018.

For further information visit theenergystevent.com

News in brief Cyber threat to critical infrastructure Nearly 80% of information security leaders in Europe foresee critical infrastructure breaches in the next two years, while 65% believe they will face a major security incident in the next 12 months. Many say they feel unprepared to handle the issue. Black Hat’s research report, entitled The Cyber Threat In Europe, details major concerns among the InfoSec community including critical infrastructure security.

Cloud computing seminar launched Rittal has launched a new Cloud Computing accredited seminar as part of its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) series.

The seminar examines how the need for greater capacity within datacentres to accommodate edge computing and the Internet of Things will lead to major structural changes within datacentres, along with new cloud computing and networking approaches. It also looks at the arguments, both for and against, the increase in size of data centres and assesses the types of workloads they are likely to support in the future.

Faulty battery causes fire at hospital A faulty battery in a server room caused a small fire at a health centre in the Australian city of Cairns, according to a report by the Cairns Post. Emergency services were called in to tackle the fire, which is believed to have been caused by a short circuit in a battery cabinet in the server room, which supported key IT systems. Two hospitals and several of the city’s health service systems were reported to have been affected by the outage.

December 2017 MCP

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DATA CENTRE Design

Engineered for efficiency and resilience Louise Frampton recently visited the Kao Data Campus to see first-hand the last stages of construction of Kao’s DC1 data centre, and discovered how it has already gained recognition for its energy efficiency

I

nnovative approaches to energy efficiency and resilience are at the heart of the design of Kao Data’s new data campus being built in Harlow, while human error is also being ‘engineered out’ through a focus on simplifying infrastructure. These design principles will be key to the company’s operating strategy when the first data centre is completed this month.

The Kao Data Campus is named after Nobel Prize winner Charles Kao who, 50 years ago, co-discovered the technology behind fibre optic cable while working for Standard Telephone Laboratories (later Nortel).

Once the project is finally completed, the campus will comprise four data centres with four ‘technology suites’, designed over three floors, totalling approximately 150,000 sq ft of technical MCP December 2017

space. Each technology suite will be capable of supporting a 2175kW IT load totalling an 8.7MW IT load across each building.

At launch, one technology suite capable of delivering 2.2MW with immediate capacity of 442 racks up to 58U will be available.

“Each rack, as standard, will support 5.5KW – but we can quite comfortably go to 10KW, or even 20KW. This means we can accommodate low, medium and high-density solutions and cover a broad range of market requirements,” says Kao Data chief operating officer Paul Finch.

Gaining entry into the data centre market in this region has been a major undertaking – availability of land and power is a major challenge, according to Finch. “New wholesale data centres do not come on to the market very often and the

last one to serve the London market was around nine years ago. The barriers to entry are now so great that there may not be another wholesale sector business in the London market in the future,” he comments.

This has made the company’s vision for sustainability and energy efficiency particularly crucial to the success of the project. The KAO Data campus has been awarded the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification – a recognised sustainability assessment method for infrastructure and buildings.

As planning consent is becoming so difficult to obtain, BREEAM is becoming a must, says Gerard Thibault, Kao Data’s chief technical officer.

“Planning authorities, as well as customers, want to see evidence of sustainability,

and a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating was awarded for the energy efficiency of the design. Our customers are increasingly developing their own corporate and social responsibility statements but it is also important for us to focus on this from a commercial perspective. One way in which we are doing this is through the cooling design,” he explains.

Cool solution Having evaluated developments in efficient and resilient forms of cooling, during the past decade, Thibault and Finch have drawn on their collective industry experience to implement N+1 Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) units. The pair have successfully delivered freecooling schemes that operate without any mechanical refrigeration in Dublin, London and now Harlow. missioncriticalpower.uk

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An M&E-led approach Kao appointed JCA Engineering, a mechanical and electrical contractor, as its principal construction partner on phase one of the development.

“Instead of going to the market with a tendering process and looking at the lowest cost, our approach has been around achieving best value,” comments Paul Finch.

“This requires a ‘partnership approach’. The largest proportion of the work for a data centre is 60%-80% M&E, so it makes sense to have ‘flipped’ the traditional construction model by using an M&E contractor, such as JCA Engineering, as the principal contractor,” he explains.

This approach to construction of the data centre, appears to be paying off, according to Finch – the project is both on time and within budget.

Matrix Networks, the specialist power utility contractor, led the construction of the UK Power Networks (UKPN) adoptable 33kV/11kV 43.5MVA sub-station providing capacity to support the entire campus.

Left to right: Kao Data’s Gerard Thibault, Paul Finch and Jan Daan Luycks This latest innovative freecooling solution has been designed to provide highly efficient climate control, while offering a resilient back-up capability in the unlikely scenario of a unit failure.

“The idea that the evaporative cooling process requires huge amounts of water is a myth,” comments Thibault. “Water is only used in the cooling process when the ambient temperature outside missioncriticalpower.uk

is 17° and upwards. With a UK average temperature of 12°, there is only a narrow window of three months of the year where water may be needed and, even on these days, water is not required all day long. From a sustainability perspective, water is one of the fully recyclable energy forms. It really is a renewable source of energy.”

According to Thibault, the units will result in increased reliability, higher energy efficiency, increased sustainability and lower operating costs over the lifecycle of the facility. He adds that the infrastructure around the cooling solution will also use less energy.

“Other approaches could only deliver three buildings

for the same amount of power, but, because we are so energy efficient (due to the evaporative cooling and transformerless UPS), we have been able to use our power utility supply far more efficiently and ultimately deliver the fourth building,” Finch adds. He comments that there is an industry misconception that being environmentally friendly and sustainable increases costs.

“We have proven, with the development of this scheme, that we can actually reduce costs. We are building a capex spend that is significantly less than some of our peers in the market.

“That manifests itself in terms of the pricing we are able to offer customers.

From an opex perspective,

We have consciously tried to engineer out human factor errors through the simplicity of the design we have lower energy costs; by delivering a facility that is energy efficient, customers’ bills will ultimately be reduced.

In addition, as we do not have any mechanical refrigeration, the overall maintenance costs will be reduced over the lifecycle of the data centre,” says Finch.

Energy efficiency also means Kao Data has been able to specify smaller generator sizes. From a sustainability perspective, the project has been able to use less copper for the cables and less steel for the generators.

The company is trying to reduce the material content of the data centre and claims that the cost benefit will be passed on to the customer as the value of the data centre will be improved.

Putting less consumables into building the data centre has other benefits in terms of maintenance, according to Kao Data CEO Jan Daan Luycks.

“As there are less components, there is less that can go wrong, so there are increased levels of reliability and availability, which is core to customer requirements,” he comments. » December 2017 MCP

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DATA CENTRE DESIGN

Energy procurement Kao Data is also focusing on its green credentials through its energy procurement strategy. Finch explains: “We offer the ability to procure energy generated from 100% renewable sources.

“Rather than installing wind turbines or photovoltaic solutions on the site, which isn’t our core business, we can procure energy through companies that are experts in delivering green energy. This is an option that will be made available to our customers.”

Resilience The electrical infrastructure is another innovative feature of the data centre design, according to Thibault: “Power and cooling are the two key areas for data centres where availability is critical – they are both equally important and go hand in hand.

“In the past, data centres operated by using ‘system plus system’ delivery of UPS power.

If the ‘A’ system goes down, you always have the ‘B’ system.

Statistically, it is very unlikely that there will be failure of both at the same time but it can happen, of course.

“This means for a 10MW data centre, you would have to install around 20MW of UPS power to deliver a ‘system plus system’ approach. At Kao Data we have opted for a distributed redundant system where we use a ‘two for three’ arrangement. This means you can reduce unused UPS capacity by one-third.

“There are other companies that use the distributed redundant approach but they tend to use systems that are much more complex, which is harder to manage from a load balance point of view.

“In my view, it also introduces jeopardy into the operation. Instead, we have chosen to strike a balance by adopting a commercially sensible approach, reducing power usage, while using simple systems, so that SLAs can be maintained.”

The distributed redundant MCP December 2017

The Kao Data campus has been awarded the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification – a recognised sustainability assessment method for infrastructure and buildings system combines the benefits of providing complete redundancy to each and every rack position without the full capital cost or operating expenses traditionally seen in data centres.

To help reduce the risk of human error, the three distributed redundant systems from 11kV to rack are each coloured strikingly differently – Feed A is Amber, Feed B is Blue and Feed C is Cyan.

“By integrating colours into the operational strategy and combining it with our strong emphasis and investment in training techniques, both our customers and Kao Data are positioned for the best possible outcomes,” says Finch.

“It also means that the people working on the electrical system have a strong visual understanding to help them avoid mistakes and eliminate a common cause of

unnecessary downtime.”

The data centre is designed around a fully concurrently maintainable arrangement, which Kao claims would be in line with a Tier III design (if certified).

“While we have not specifically made this an Uptime Institute certified facility, we designed it with this in mind so that, if any of our customers want that certification, we can go back

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Kao’s power

Kao Data “has consciously tried to engineer out human factor errors through the simplicity of the design” retrospectively and go through the certification process with confidence,” says Thibault.

“Within the technology suites, there are no CRAC units and we have kept it very simple in terms of the way power is distributed, with no PDUs,” adds Finch.

“In theory, there is no need for any operational maintenance personnel to go into the white space itself.

Everything is located outside of the customer’s demise.

We have consciously tried to engineer out human factor errors through the simplicity of the design.”

DCIM To effectively manage the data

centre’s critical infrastructure and ensure continued efficiency, Kao Data has chosen to standardise on Schneider Electric’s StruxureWare for Data Centers DCIM suite.

One of the reasons for opting for StruxureWare was the fact that it enables power management software (PMS), energy management software (EMS) and building management software (BMS) to be integrated with a DCIM overlay to provide data centre customers with a range of services from IT asset management to power use monitoring and intelligence down to branch circuits.

Using StruxureWare for Data Centers, Kao Data has implemented a solution which eliminates integration costs and time, reduces risk, and simplifies commissioning and operations. Kao Data will also be creating a tenant portal, to enable customers to see what is going on in their data centre at any time. Customers will have complete transparency around their operations – from power consumed, to the environmental conditions.

Predictions for the future In the future, Kao Data predicts that there will be a more ‘granular approach’ to resilience in the data centre market.

missioncriticalpower.uk

“We could see the use of smaller UPS to simply support the most critical applications; there may be a move towards ‘engineering down’ the resilience for equipment that can be allowed to go off, for a short period, towards being smarter on how power is managed,” comments Thibault. “In the past, the data centre sector has tended to use a blanket approach; in some instances, facilities have been using 2N UPS and even 2N cooling infrastructure to ensure availability but this is very expensive and not all of the equipment will need this – particularly as we see virtualisation and the triangulation of mirrored sites [ie the use of three sites to allow instant failover]… In the future, we will need to think about how we streamline infrastructure moving forward.”

Luycks predicts that, in the future, the redundancy will not be in the data centre itself; it will be in the software. “In the event of a failure, operations will simply move to another data centre.

“This means that, in the future, you will probably see data centres without gen sets.

Of course, it will depend on the industry sector – this approach won’t be for everyone,” he concludes. l

The 43.5MVA maximum capacity of power is supplied to the Kao Data Campus from the UK Power Networks (UKPN) national grid substation Harlow West Grid. The power is delivered via a 5km route comprising of three 33kV circuits each supplying a 33/11kV transformer rated at 30MVA. The end-to-end supply conforms with the security supply standard P2/6 and provides a N+1 level of resilience and redundancy throughout; there is no single point of failure on the Kao Data Campus network, nor that of UKPN. Therefore for the loss of a single circuit or item of equipment there is no loss of supply to the site even before consideration is given to further redundancy provided by the N+1 11kV generator scheme supporting each individual data centre.

Kao Data’s campus offers: • Availability of electricity: up to 99.999% • Back up N+1 diesel generators, dedicated tanks to ensure operation at full load for at least 24 hours and a maximum of 48 hours, with priority refueling contracts in place • UPS – two independent (redundant) power supply systems available for a minimum of five minutes (at power failure) • 230V and 400V power supply options are available with independent phases to customer’s rented space • Protection of customer equipment against overvoltage

December 2017 MCP

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RISK MANAGEMENT

T

here have been many data centre ‘failure’ studies over the years, the most widely accepted coming from The Uptime Institute membership, which reported that 70% of failures were the result of ‘human error’.

I personally prefer the (non-published) version from Microsoft in North America, which added human and software errors together and suggested that 97% of all failures in 25-plus data centres were down to human error.

So, the question arises: should we be aiming for more, or less, than 70% of failures being human-related?

If we ignore for one moment which constituents make up human error, the answer must be that human error should, in a perfect data centre power and cooling infrastructure, be 100%, because then the designer has created perfection – concurrently maintainable and fault tolerant. It is only then that the dangers appear and, paraphrasing Lee Iacocca, who said “risks [costs] appear in my business on two feet”.

Having said that, many data centre failures that we read about in the press are actually not related to the data centre at all – they are software system failures and very often occur when systems are upgrading.

The well-publicised NatWest data centre failures of a couple of years ago were entirely related to software upgrades but shut down the access to accounts and the ATM network for days – yet the data centre was blamed.

So, what constitutes human error? Probably everything that touches the data centre process, from finance, through to design and construction, testing and operations. Can the infrastructure be blamed for a power failure, or the person who cut the budget that prevented enough redundancy to be installed to meet the business case? Or the failure when an operator pushes the wrong button but it was because ‘someone’ didn’t MCP December 2017

Seventy per cent of failures due to human error… It should be 100 How can we mitigate the risk of data centre failures and what exactly constitutes ‘human error’? Ian Bitterlin outlines the reasons why generator failures often turn out to be human related, after closer inspection, and discusses how we can prevent future mistakes budget for training or allow sufficient opportunity for the staff to practice ‘live’?

In nearly all ‘failure’ cases, all roads lead to human error.

Some failures when reported exhibit an ignorance (real or feigned) of the reality of data centre engineering to produce a smoke screen for the data

centre operator to hide behind.

The latest example took place recently, where a power utility failure was blamed for the data centre losing power to the critical load. After the “we apologise to our clients for these external and unexpected events” message the proposed solution was “to correct

inadequate investment in the past and install a second utility feed”; at least a nod to the lack of investment being to blame – although not in the right place!

Utility failure (or significant transient deviation) is a normal and 100% expectable event in every data centre so adding another connection will not missioncriticalpower.uk

13 Some failures when reported exhibit an ignorance (real or feigned) of the reality of data centre engineering to produce a smoke screen for the data centre operator to hide behind

help in any way.

No, this data centre problem was clearly related to the emergency diesel system not backing up the utility. So why not blame that? I can’t say with certainty but, over many years, I have seen numerous EPG ‘failures’ that are actually human error related, such as: • Lack of maintenance to starter battery and charger • Lack of care of the fuel quality/contamination • After maintenance not switching the charger back ‘on’ or the system back into ‘auto’ • Lack of monthly system testing, starting on load • Lack of emergency testing of generator switchgear (not the single sets) You can see that these ‘generator failures’ all start to be ‘human’ related. So how can missioncriticalpower.uk

we reduce human error? We can certainly design out the opportunity for operational error, albeit usually at higher capital expenditure such as a fault-tolerant power and cooling system – although that must have a fault tolerant control system to match, something that is usually missing from, so called, Tier IV (apologies to Uptime for the abuse by use of ‘Tier’ and Roman numerals) facilities.

We can also reduce human error by best-in-class operations, which include training, retraining, up-to-date documentation and SOPs/EOPs that are backed-up by regular live testing and emergency simulations. Then, at least, most failures will occur at a known date and time when everyone can be fully prepared for a brief outage rather than at a random instant that may dramatically impact the business just when it is most dramatic.

But, ignoring software problems, how can we reduce data centre systems failures, human errors or combinations of both? In my opinion herein lies the greatest opportunity for improvement.

A new venture spearheaded

by Ed Ansett (known to many from his EYPMCF days in Singapore and London and now i3) will share operational experiences and detailed facts, rather than marketing spin, about data centre failures for the common good so that each can learn from others.

This venture is a not-for-profit organisation called DCiRN, the Data Centre Infrastructure Reporting Network. It is currently free to join although, at some time in the future, it will eventually have to involve some small annual fee to cover the administration costs (you can find the joining instructions at dcirn.org).

But how will it work? The

inspiration behind it is the airline/maritime industry, which has a strong record of continuously improving passenger safety by the sharing of accident and potential accident information using an anonymised system called CHIRP and, yes, you could call it a whistle-blowing system.

The same is available in the data centre industry where it is common practice to cover up failures or potential failure incidents in a misguided attempt to protect reputations.

Root-cause investigation findings are normally secret and bound by NDA, which has resulted in the prevention of learning from failures.

While CHIRP is aimed at human safety, data centres support every aspect of the digital economy and, as we become more reliant on them, for example with self-guided cars, it is only a matter of time before a failure will be associated with human fatalities, hence DCiRN, and we need to act sooner rather than later.

There’s no reason why our archaic secrecy should continue.

Working with globally recognised industry leaders as advisors and editors of the confidential reports that are submitted (not involving equipment OEMs in any way) - DCiRN is a forum for the exchange of information between data centre operators around the world to encourage the confidential sharing of information about failures so that lessons can be learnt, and failure rates reduced.

The system is simple.

Anyone can download the form from the website and submit a report. It will be analysed and anonymised by the advisory board and then, only if anonymity of the reporter and the location can be 100% guaranteed, the incident will be published and circulated, free of charge, to all members.

Will it work for all incidents?

Probably not. Will it prove of value (the education and prevention of the same error) to all members? Definitely yes.

I for one will certainly be a supporter of the principle and process and encourage all my clients to use the system. l

Nearly all cases of data centre ‘failures’ were the result of human error December 2017 MCP

Empowering the dream makers Schneider Electric has helped Animal Logic grow its moviemaking capabilities with a prefabricated data centre

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ith more than 25 years’ experience, independent Australian company Animal Logic has been at the forefront of creating digital content, award-winning visual effects and animation for the film and television industries.

The studio recently delivered work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Alien: Covenant (2017), The LEGO® Batman Movie (2017), The Great Wall (2016) and The Master: A LEGO® Ninjago Short (2016).

Animal Logic is currently in production on The LEGO® Ninjago Movie (2017), Peter Rabbit (2018), and The LEGO®

Movie Sequel (2019). Other film credits include: The LEGO® Movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Great Gatsby, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, 300 and Happy Feet.

Animal Logic Entertainment (ALE) is the development and production arm tasked with establishing a strong slate of innovative, commercially minded, story-driven projects stamped with the visual and technical innovation that has become the hallmark of the studios’ work.

Most recently, ALE announced a joint venture with Imagine Entertainment to develop, produce and finance six

feature-length animation and hybrid animation projects over the next five years. Animal Logic is one of the world’s most highly regarded digital production studios with locations in Sydney, Los Angeles and Vancouver – leading to a larger need under pressing industry demand – for the perfect data centre.

Data needs and deployment speeds Alex Timbs, head of IT at Animal Logic, explains the Animation studio’s growth challenge: “Because our business is cyclical in nature, the demands of the productions we’re working on dictate how many people we have working for us, and how

much infrastructure we need. So, speed of deployment for our data centre environments is absolutely critical to our success.”

Timbs provides perspective on the need for high-density data capacity: “Around 90% of the data centre houses highdensity compute, which is used for the process of rendering images… the other 10% is high-capacity storage used for production, which houses the images that are generated by that render process.”

Animal Logic prides itself on dreaming big for the big screen and as a result their data centre solution needed to be equally as ambitious. Timbs says he

implemented 30kW per rack power density empowers Animal Logic’s facility to process 1.25 petaflops per second on average – exactly the depth of capability the graphics house required for advanced animation production and design. Timbs says: “We selected a highdensity Schneider prefab for the purposes of meeting the new business requirements.

“We needed an extremely high capacity, highly dense solution. We selected Schneider Electric based on their engineering capabilities and ability to meet the businesses needs quickly.”

Furthermore, data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) software was deployed to provide complete visibility across the facility, improving planning and operational performance. StruxureOn™, a cloud-based monitoring service offers Animal Logic maximum protection of critical equipment. It features 24/7 remote monitoring, remote troubleshooting, and data-driven insights that provide visibility and live metrics – right to their smartphones.

A partnership secured Within four and a half months, Animal Logic’s prefabricated data centre arrived. It soon began experiencing the returns from investing in a Schneider Electric prefabricated data centre as its compute capability quickly grew and businessrisky latency shrank.

The prefab unit will continue to power the studio’s movie-making magic.

“Schneider was the only vendor to be able to deliver in that four and a half months, and has very rapidly become what we call a partner in creating these fantastic images that you see on screen,” says Alex. “Schneider Electric is our partner in making movies.”

Animal Logic Sydney is currently in production on LEGO® Ninjago (2017) and Peter Rabbit (2018) while its Vancouver studio is currently working on The LEGO Movie Sequel (2019). Keep an eye out for its continuing contribution in Hollywood animation. l For further information visit schneider-electric.com/ ecostruxure

We selected Schneider Electric based on their engineering capabilities and ability to meet the businesses needs quickly - Alex Timbs, head of IT at Animal Logic chose a Schneider Electric prefabricated data centre solution because it allows for customisation, has a reputation for flexible engineering, and promises fast deployment.

The new state of Animal Logic’s data capacity Understanding Animal Logic’s unique needs for capacity and delivery, Schneider deployed a custom prefab data centre in just under four and a half months. The new infrastructure delivered a major boost in data processing, which in turn enabled greater performance and operational agility.

For example, the newly

Goal Align data centre infrastructure strategy to meet business needs.

Approach Deployment of a modular scalable data centre architecture based on Schneider Electric’s customisable prefabricated data centre solution.

Story Increasing demands of highperformance computing resources. Business impact of latency bandwidth costs and security and increased data sovereignty demands forcing Animal Logic to come up with an alternative solution.

Results • Animal Logic experienced a massive boost in animation productivity; the direct result of deploying a render farm with an average operations speed of 1.25 petaflops per second for its most common workloads, all within a 30kW per rack power density.

• The on-premise system is more reliable than its prior one, removing creative “bottlenecks”, reducing latency and reducing its utility bill.

• With Schneider Electric’s services supporting the present and future of Animal Logic’s data centre, it is operating in peak condition.

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POWER MANAGEMENT

Keeping an eye on critical power When uptime is a matter of life and death, it is vital to have visibility of power performance. Power monitoring is crucial for protecting patients undergoing surgery, but it can also save hospitals money. Louise Frampton speaks to Markus Hirschbold, systems architect, Schneider Electric, about the importance of ensuring safety and operational efficiency in healthcare

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n mission critical sectors, such as healthcare, ensuring the reliability of electrical infrastructure can be a matter of life and death.

While serious incidents are rare, in the past decade, there have been some high-profile reports of back-up power failures, resulting in surgeons being forced to operate by torchlight and staff having to “manually suck fluid from the lungs of patients in intensive care” (BBC, 19 August 2010).

Ageing infrastructure and strained maintenance budgets mean there is an increasing need for hospitals to be vigilant and to ensure they do not hit the headlines for failures in their critical power infrastructure.

MCP December 2017

Digitised power distribution Increased visibility of performance of electrical systems is critical to protect patients, as well as hospitals’ reputations. Software solutions, such as Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure, are now available which can provide an insight into every aspect of electrical distribution within hospitals, to improve patient safety and operational efficiency.

“A quick glance of the dashboard on a modern vehicle can provide an understanding of exactly what is going on with your car – from the pressure in the tyres, engine temperature and speed, to whether you are getting too close to another vehicle; the automotive sector has embraced digitisation

completely, but the electrical distribution world is lagging behind,” says Markus Hirschbold, systems architect, Schneider Electric.

“Whether it is a breaker tripping, a transformer overheating, or an insulation issue in the operating room, all this data needs to come together in a central location.

This level of digitisation is particularly important for an operating room. Patients are more susceptible to electric shock as they lack a protective layer of skin, due to the invasive nature of surgery.

“If the surgical equipment is faulty and there is an issue with the insulation, there is the potential for the current to flow through the patient to

the ground; if the current is high enough, this could result in serious harm,” comments Hirschbold.

To prevent this risk, insulation monitoring is performed in theatre and an alarm is sounded if insulation integrity is compromised.

“The EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert software enables the problem to be quickly identified and resolved – it allows the right decisions to be made at the right time,” Hirschbold explains.

The software also enables condition-based maintenance – particularly important given the prevalence of ageing infrastructure within a cashstrapped NHS. In hospital trusts, preventive maintenance missioncriticalpower.uk

17

is normally performed at scheduled intervals – ie once a year or once every six months – regardless of whether or not the equipment is in need of maintenance. In some cases, it may be performed too often or not often enough.

If the usage pattern of a back-up generator shows that it has been used frequently, it may need maintaining more often. Equally, if it is not used enough, it may also require attention. If the equipment is able to indicate when it requires maintenance, based on its usage pattern, maintenance intervals can be optimised, therefore.

“Condition-based maintenance is all about staff productivity and reducing missioncriticalpower.uk

operating expense (opex). It is about performing the right maintenance, at the right time, in the right place. Healthcare providers are finding that their operating budgets are strained and it is hard to keep up with the demands of preventive maintenance; some ageing equipment is not getting enough attention based on its usage.

“A move towards conditionbased maintenance allows trusts to optimise their maintenance budget, avoid

waste and to focus the money that they do have on areas where it is necessary,” says Hirschbold.

Non-linear loads Another trend seen in hospitals is the move towards non-linear loads. This includes LED lighting and variable speed drives, for example.

“Non-linear loads switch very quickly – you can sometimes see this as flickering in LED lights.

This high-speed switching results in harmonics – within the electrical distribution system, this is often the cause of malfunctioning of sensitive medical equipment,” Hirschbold explains.

“I recently gave a presentation at an international conference in Hong Kong about the experience of a hospital in Canada – they encountered problems with their blood dialysis machines.

After an investigation, it »

Healthcare providers are finding that their operating budgets are strained and it is hard to keep up with the demands of preventive maintenance; some ageing equipment is not getting enough attention based on its usage December 2017 MCP

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POWER MANAGEMENT

With a worldwide reputation to uphold, the hospital could not afford major disruptions – gaining visibility and control over every aspect of the facility was critical

was found that the dialysis machines were resetting due to the installation of variable speed drives as part of an energy efficiency project.”

An expert from Schneider Electric visited the facility and was able to identify the cause of the problem and installed a harmonic filter solution to mitigate the problem. After hearing the story, others came forward at the event and said they were also having similar issues with sensitive medical equipment.

“By having EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert software, such power quality issues can be detected and quickly dealt with before they become an issue and affect critical loads. Ultimately, this can protect lives,” comments Hirschbold.

Moorfields Eye Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital – the oldest and largest centre for ophthalmic treatment in Europe – specified EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert software to help ensure the reliability of the hospital’s MCP December 2017

critical electrical infrastructure.

More than a century old, the hospital’s ageing infrastructure needed updating and several older, but valuable building systems needed to be integrated into a centralised platform. With a worldwide reputation to uphold, the hospital could not afford major disruptions – gaining visibility and control over every aspect of the facility was critical.

Chris Harding, director of estates and facilities at Moorfields, opted to install EcoStruxure for Healthcare, to manage his facility infrastructure and gain insights into operational efficiency opportunities. EcoStruxure for Healthcare helps make the best of the hospital’s existing infrastructure by integrating the older but valuable building systems into one comprehensive platform.

Having full visibility into the hospital infrastructure, Harding’s teams can ensure that many aspects of the building, now under control, can monitor and report when outside health and

safety compliance. Sensors throughout the facility feed information to the building management system (EcoStruxure Building Operation), giving instant access to critical information 24/7. If an electrical asset goes down anywhere in the hospital, the facility team receives a notification on their phone or laptop, and can immediately react. This reduces the man hours spent maintaining the facility. Insight into the precise

energy consumption of the building also helps reduce energy costs during times of low use.

Most importantly, the system is designed with doctors in mind; the operating theatre panel now provides a clear view of the power and room environment information required to ensure patient and staff safety during surgeries, enabling the eye experts to focus their attention where it is needed most. l

Reducing outages An EcoStruxure Power Management system can help reduce the number and duration of unplanned outages, reduce energy consumption, improve maintenance, optimise loading of key equipment and reduce liability with reporting and tracking. Key benefits include: • Improved patient safety and financial performance • Ensuring optimum operation of power distribution network • Minimising power disruptions and boosting efficiency • Up to 99.999% reliability • Improved regulatory compliance and reduced liability The Emergency Power Supply System Test Module provides peace of mind with accurate, automated testing and reporting on backup power systems.

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ENERGY PROCUREMENT

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or businesses operating critical sites, ensuring a constant and secure energy supply is a must. For many organisations, this means having at least one source of backup generation onsite for contingency purposes, such as a diesel generator or combined heat and power (CHP) unit.

At the same time, the UK is progressing towards its 2050 carbon target of reducing carbon emissions by 80%, compared with 1990 levels.

Our electricity infrastructure is decarbonising to support that target, with more and more renewable generation sources being connected to the system.

In fact, 21 April this year saw the widely reported first zerocoal day since the industrial revolution and BEIS reported a year-on-year increase in renewables of a significant 4.4GW capacity for the second quarter of 2017, within its Energy Trends Report, published in September.

However, many businesses may not realise that backup facilities are also a means of generating new revenues, in addition to securing supply and hitting those all-important carbon targets.

The business of balancing As well as becoming much greener, the generation mix is also decentralising. Electricity is now generated from more sources and we no longer rely on a handful of large coal-powered plants to provide the bulk of the country’s electricity needs. This makes balancing the electricity system a much more complex task, creating a need for new and different levers.

One such lever is the business consumer. Because businesses use large volumes of electricity, they can make a significant difference when actual demand for electricity is higher or lower than forecast. If a business can turn down – or switch to onsite generation when demand is higher than expected – it negates the need to source additional power; and vice versa, where there is a surplus

MCP December 2017

Working smarter: creating new revenue from your assets Consumers and businesses alike are increasingly demanding that their suppliers operate responsibly, says Ashley Phillips, from Ørsted (formerly Dong Energy).

He discusses energy strategies that can generate revenue and improve green credentials missioncriticalpower.uk

21 of electricity on the system, a business that can increase its consumption is valuable.

The need for greater flexibility in business consumption, to support system balance, has led to a focus on developing schemes to encourage as many businesses as possible to get involved with system balancing. Many of these demand-side response (DSR) schemes are operated

by National Grid. There are different features associated with different schemes but essentially businesses are paid for their consumption flexibility.

For mission critical sites, this is likely to mean switching to onsite generation when needed, to balance the electricity system.

Earnings vary depending on several factors. For instance, larger volumes and quicker reaction times are rewarded with a higher price per unit delivered. Some schemes offer a payment for making flexible volume available, with a further payment when businesses are called upon to change their usage and participate in the scheme.

It is a part of the energy industry that is evolving quickly and it is important that businesses stay ahead of changes to ensure they maximise any new opportunities that may arise.

Because business flexibility is so critical to the smooth operation of the electricity system, some schemes have penalties if a business fails to switch down when asked, so it is important to choose the right one. For mission critical sites, this may be an important factor, as avoiding any downtime is vital for your operation.

With this in mind, we developed our renewable balancing reserve (RBR) scheme. RBR helps to keep the system in balance, by using business flexibility to counteract any changes from our forecasts, known as ‘imbalance’.

Each day energy suppliers disclose their anticipated volume for the day ahead. missioncriticalpower.uk

Imbalance occurs when generation does not match the demand. When this happens, National Grid takes action to balance the network by asking generators and consumers to change generation or consumption to counteract the difference.

This incurs costs, which are passed on to suppliers. RBR works by reducing imbalance costs for Ørsted, as well as providing a revenue earning opportunity for businesses.

The resulting savings or earnings are then shared with participating customers. In fact, one of our customers increased its energy export revenue by 4% through RBR, earning an additional £273 per hour, on average. For many businesses, RBR is attractive

a low carbon economy is here to stay and for those businesses ready to embrace it, there are opportunities to grow.

At Ørsted, we recognise the importance of embracing a better energy future. As a result, we have divested our oil and gas assets and changed our name from Dong Energy, which stood for Danish Oil and Natural Gas. On 6 November we became Ørsted, named after Danish scientist HC Ørsted, who discovered electromagnetism.

His discovery helped lay the foundation for the way we produce power today, and his curiosity, dedication and interest in nature are qualities we believe are essential to creating a world that runs entirely on green energy.

By providing premium-free renewable energy as well as innovative ways to balance the UK’s evolving electricity system, we’re enabling an increasing number of businesses to act responsibly while reaping commercial rewards because it can be operated in conjunction with other DSR schemes, providing further opportunity to maximise the earnings from existing on-site generation.

A sustainable future Harnessing business flexibility is vital for the energy industry.

By working together, we can keep the cost of transformation down while realising our low carbon ambitions.

The Government recently announced that emissions are already down by 42% on 1990 levels so we are making good progress, but there is a lot more work to do. BEIS launched its Clean Growth Strategy on 12 October, which sets out its approach to reducing emissions, tackling climate change, creating high-skilled jobs and developing worldleading green technologies. As a country, our commitment to

Consumers and businesses alike are increasingly demanding that their suppliers operate responsibly.

We have made it easier for businesses to adopt an environmentally conscious approach by removing the premium associated with renewable electricity, enabling businesses to ‘go green’ without commercial disadvantage.

Because our electricity is entirely generated from offshore wind, it can be reported as zero carbon in greenhouse gas reports, which our customers find can be attractive within tenders.

By providing premium-free renewable energy as well as innovative ways to balance the UK’s evolving electricity system, we are enabling an increasing number of businesses to act responsibly while reaping commercial rewards. ● December 2017 MCP

22

ENERGY RESILIENCE

Risky business Lack of energy resilience is putting £2.8m of annual business revenue at risk. That’s the stark warning in a new report from Centrica Business Solutions

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K businesses without an energy resilience strategy are risking 17% of their revenue, equating to £2.8m each year in damages and lost opportunities. This is a key finding from Centrica Business Solutions’ research into the current state of energy resilience.

The Resilience Report, which details the findings, is a result of a survey of more than 300 organisations across the UK and Ireland.

Responding to the survey, senior energy decision-makers who had not experienced a serious energy failure predicted the cost to their business would be 7% of their annual revenue.

In reality, UK and Irish businesses impacted by blackouts or even very temporary ‘brown outs’ found MCP December 2017

the actual figure was much higher, estimated to be 17%. For the typical UK medium-sized business, this equates to £2.8m.

Energy resilience, having a secure and reliable source of energy, helps companies reduce the risk of operational failures and reduce commercial risk. There are tangible benefits to having a resilience strategy in place, with organisations 13 percentage points more likely to have a good brand reputation and 34 percentage points more

32%

of businesses do not have any form of energy resilience strategy in place

likely to have strong financial performance.

The importance businesses attach to energy resilience is clear. Some 88% of UK businesses surveyed stated it was important – and 58% said it is becoming critical for businesses to be energy resilient. At the same time, 52% of respondents think they will experience energy-related failure in the next year.

Ignoring the risk Despite this, only 16% of companies are making energy resilience a top priority and only 18% of businesses have a formal energy resilience strategy. A further 32% of businesses have no form of energy resilience strategy in place at all.

Alan Barlow, UK director of

Centrica Business Solutions, says: “It’s clear that businesses see the importance of energy resilience, both to ensure a reliable energy supply, and to prepare for changes in the energy landscape. How to create a strategy to do that, however, is less clear. What we know is that ignoring the risks can be very damaging.

Without an energy resilience strategy, organisations can only be as successful as their energy supply allows.

“There are reputational and financial benefits to an energy resilience strategy so it’s important that organisations make the right investments and take steps towards implementing a strategy. Backup power systems provide protection against power outages, and batteries can missioncriticalpower.uk

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18%

of businesses say outages have damaged their brand provide energy in less than a second, mitigating the risks of temporary brown outs.”

The report also revealed that eight out of 10 organisations have experienced at least one energy-related failure in the past year, of which almost one in four experienced equipment damage as a result, while 14% reported having lost inventory.

All of these things impacted on their bottom line, with almost 1 in 3 businesses surveyed attributing lost revenue to power outages.

The damage caused by an unplanned power outage goes beyond inventory and equipment, according to the report – 18% of businesses say that outages have damaged their overall brand, while 19% feel that relationships with individual customers have soured as a consequence.

Eight out of 10 organisations have experienced at least one energy-related failure in the past year, of which almost one in four experienced equipment damage as a result

Underestimating the cost The alarming truth here is that the value of a business is being eroded in ways that are not directly attributable to their causes, and that the already significant cost of energyrelated failures may still be underestimated.

The report further points out that there is also a human cost: 11% of businesses said that their employees have

been put in dangerous or life-threatening situations as the result of energy-related failures.

The survey suggests that many power failure issues could be remedied internally – 67% of businesses said they have experienced power supply problems due to poor maintenance of equipment.

The report provides a stark warning to businesses: the frequency of energy-related failures is expected to increase and the impact that they will have on businesses is expected to be costly and far-reaching.

It is clear, therefore, that businesses need to have an energy resilience strategy in place to address the risks and protect themselves.

Centrica adds that it is “hard to overestimate the importance of energy resilience; it supports future-proofing strategies to reduce dependency on single-source energy supplies; it encourages revised maintenance approaches to effectively reduce downtime and it minimises commercial risk by adding cost-effective onsite energy-producing capabilities”.

Ultimately, energy resilience empowers businesses to endure potentially catastrophic energyrelated failures and help them to succeed within a rapidly changing energy landscape.l ‘The Resilience Report: Measuring the business impact of energy-related failures and creating an energy resilient future’, can be downloaded at: https://tinyurl.com/y7r2ufsq

Centrica acquires leading DSR aggregator Centrica has acquired REstore, one of Europe’s leading demand response aggregators, for £62m in cash. Headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, REstore manages 1.7GW of peak load from a portfolio of industrial and commercial customers across Belgium, the UK, France and Germany, generating value for businesses through ancillary services including frequency response and capacity markets. The company’s software and international patents are currently used by more than 150 of Europe’s largest energy users, including chemical, steel and food manufacturers.

The business will form part of Centrica’s international Distributed Energy & Power unit, which provides energy insight, asset optimisation and energy solutions to large energy users under the Centrica Business Solutions banner.

Through this acquisition, demand response aggregation will become a core part of the offer to customers and is expected to represent a significant growth opportunity for Centrica as global electricity markets evolve.

REstore brings key capabilities in asset optimisation, one of the five strategic pillars of Centrica Business, and is complementary to those provided by Centrica’s previous acquisitions of Panoramic Power, Neas Energy and ENER-G Cogen. The acquisition will also further expand Centrica’s geographic footprint into new European markets.

missioncriticalpower.uk

December 2017 MCP

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UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY

A smarter way of using UPS? Louise Frampton met with Riello’s Leo Craig at IP Expo to discuss the role of UPS technology in mission critical applications. He talked about the importance of innovation – from R&D in battery development to the latest transformerless solutions

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ational Grid has committed to relying mostly on demandside response (DSR) to balance the UK’s energy needs by 2030. Large energy users could have a role to play and suppliers of UPS technology, such as Riello, are looking to encourage organisations to get more from their assets through participation in DSR. The UK has more than 4GW of stored power in UPS units and harnessing that power could become crucial in tackling the nation’s energy dilemma.

Some mission critical sites are starting to come on board but there is huge untapped potential across a wide variety of sectors.

It is clear some sectors are more ready than others, but projects are now under way at mission critical sites within healthcare, the water industry and banking, to name just a few.

Leo Craig, general manager of Riello UPS, comments: MCP December 2017

“We are interested in smart grid technologies that allow interaction with the grid and renewables, while using the UPS as energy accumulators.

As a business, we are ready for this, but the market needs to be encouraged to use UPS technology as a smart grid product – data centre operators and IT managers are not onboard yet. It will come, and when it does, our UPSs will be waiting and ready to go.”

Other industries are starting to show an interest in using UPS for smart grid applications but there are still barriers to overcome for some sectors. Craig explains that the infrastructure within the NHS is ageing, so the sector is a long way from being “where it should be now, let alone being ready for DSR”.

A huge problem The scale of the problem of ageing IT infrastructure became all too apparent earlier

in the year when trusts were hit by a large-scale ransomware attack, made possible by vulnerabilities due to the use of outdated software.

There is a need for an overhaul of NHS IT and associated infrastructure but with the NHS facing one of the toughest periods of austerity, convincing trust boards of the value of investing in areas that are not directly related to frontline care is proving challenging.

“We would love to work with hospitals and there are significant opportunities for savings, but for sites with ageing infrastructure a lot of investment is required,” Craig comments.

“We can offer the expertise required to engage with DSR, – including mission critical sites.

We have collaborated with organisations such as KiWi Power and now have working examples in London,” he says.

The technology was tried and

tested during a project, funded

by Innovate UK and led by KiWi Power along with energy storage consultant Swanbarton. This involved the creation of a ‘virtual power plant’ to support KiWi Power’s London office. The energy storage project employed Lithium-ion battery technology from GS Yuasa in conjunction with a Riello 20kVA MultiSentry UPS. This was selected for KiWi’s system as it supports power ranging from 5-12kW and had the capability to work with Yuasa’s deep cycling batteries.

To enable virtual power plant operating modes for KiWi Power, additional commands were programmed into the UPS firmware. The commands incorporated a ‘discharge’ mode, where the office load is removed from the mains supply and supported by the battery; a ‘hold’ mode, where the office load is supplied from the mains with the battery remaining in a static state of charge; and a missioncriticalpower.uk

25 ‘charge’ mode, where the office load is supplied from mains while the battery is recharged at a programmable rate.

In the event of a mains failure, the normal UPS mode is restored immediately to support the office load. The choice of operating mode is made by a micro grid storage manager (MGSM) developed by Swanbarton. This collects information on the National Grid status, battery state, local load and aggregated load conditions.

The project has demonstrated that, with the right equipment in place, a UPS can become a vital source for energy trading as well as an insurance policy against power failure.

Corporate responsibility However, persuading organisations to consider DSR in the first place can prove a challenge. “Some take the view that the stability of the grid isn’t their problem and they don’t want to get involved. They can’t see the benefits,” Craig comments.

4GW

The amount of stored power in UPS units, in the UK, that could be harnessed for DSR He points out that there needs to be a change in mindset.

“Some worry about the risk; that someone else is controlling their UPS. They need an answer to their ‘what if?’ questions.

However, if you do not ‘exercise’ your UPS and generators, you could find that they fail to work when they are actually needed.

If you ‘exercise’ them as part of DSR, you can find faults without putting the business at risk,” he argues.

“A lot of organisations have problems testing their equipment, as they are concerned that it’s a business risk. However, if they do not test their assets fully, how can they be sure they will work?” Craig points out.

He adds that financial departments do not understand the technology: “They look at the cost and think DSR isn’t worth it. DSR may only be financially neutral to the business, in some cases, but from a corporate responsibility perspective, it is in their interests to help out the national grid; we are going to run out of power – especially when we all start to charge our new hybrid cars every night.

“We need to help businesses understand that they have a responsibility to get involved with these projects – not just to themselves but to the nation.

DSR is good for businesses, good for the national grid and good for the general public,” Craig continues.

Battery innovation UPSs above 10kVA are suitable for DSR applications, although Craig says that they do require Lithium-ion batteries – the recharge time is much shorter and they can be cycled for longer without degradation.

UPS research and development

According to Craig, cuttingedge innovation in the future will be seen around Lithiumion batteries and they will become the standard.

“We are dependent on manufacturers to produce components that can produce greater power, which can be incorporated into our products.

A US company is currently developing ‘foam’ battery technology which could replace conventional Lithium-ion, offering higher power and energy densities. We are keeping a close eye on developments in this area, which are expected to come to the fore in the next five to 10 years,” he says.

“At present, the market for this technology is focused on smaller applications, such as mobile phones, but it will progress out to larger applications, such as the automotive and UPS sectors.

Battery technology is the one thing we are reliant on as a UPS manufacturer and we want to see more innovation in this area,” Craig concludes. ● Left to right: Next Energy UPS and Sentinel Dual

Riello is investing heavily in research and development at present, and recently unveiled two new solutions at IP Expo Europe: Next Energy and Sentinel Dual, both of which are for use in mission critical applications. The Next Energy UPS device is a high-tech solution offering high efficiency of up to 97% and low running cost.

It offers transformerless double conversion technology at VFI SS 111 classification, integrated IGBT three-level design and an in-built energy control system as standard. The UPS design helps to guarantee high performance, such as unity power factor (kW/ kVA), and supports the capability to supply capacitive loads, as well as easy system upgrading – making it an ideal solution for business continuity.

Designed with the latest technology, the Next Energy works to not only prevent disturbances on the mains, but also to clean the power supply. Craig says: “This latest development extends the capacity of our transformerless range to up to 300kVA – in the near future this will be extended even further, up to 400kVA, and modularity will be offered.”

He explains that transformerless technology offers greater efficiency with a smaller footprint, as well as reducing weight. In addition, because the technology is more efficient, is also emits less heat – hence it places less demands on cooling. Features such as the colour LCD touch display make the model more intuitive to operate and provide the end-user with clear, accessible data.

The Sentinel Dual was also showcased on Riello UPS’s IP Expo stand. Up to three systems can be operated in parallel offering increased reliability and performance. Craig explains: “Customers told us that they wanted to parallel smaller UPSs together. They want to make them scalable, to add capacity by joining them together, or to add redundancy so they can have N+1. Our R&D department took this on board and developed the new range to meet these demands. We can parallel up to three units together, in 5, 6, 8 or 10kVA combinations. At the top end, it is possible to have a 30kVA capacity rack-mounted, parallel system, or 20kVA with redundancy. At IP Expo, we have seen a significant interest from enterprises that do not require large UPS solutions but are unwilling to compromise on reliability and performance.”

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December 2017 MCP

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DEMAND-SIDE RESPONSE

DSR: a more intelligent use of energy?

Deif (UK) has published a new white paper explaining the principles of demand-side response. Managing director Roger Watterson argues that exercising generators for mission critical sites is a must, so why not earn revenue at the same time?

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emand-side response is all about using energy intelligently. When we say ‘demand side’ we mean services that enable businesses and consumers to turn up or down or shift demand in realtime. This is a really important tool to help ensure a secure, sustainable and affordable electricity system. It helps soften peaks in demand and fill in the troughs, especially at times when power is more abundant, affordable and clean.

DSR facilitates the earning of new revenue streams or significant savings from your assets by adjusting consumption in real time during periods of peak demand.

Response times vary from four hours to within seconds.

The faster assets can respond – the greater the revenue opportunities.

A simple implementation MCP December 2017

process, once complete enables the end user to respond (via a demand response aggregator) to requests from National Grid for additional power capacity. The welcome by-products of demand response are greater efficiencies, increased transparency of asset consumption, operational readiness of back-up generation used and significant earnings and savings potential.

Companies able to participate in DSR programmes can take part knowing that their business operating facilities will not be disrupted and that they are helping to balance the grid during periods of peak demand.

KiWi Power, a leading DSR aggregator, and Deif UK have successfully completed the frequency injection test required

by National Grid at a major London financial institution.

This test demonstrates their sites’ ability to respond

automatically, within seconds, to balance the grid. Successfully completing this test now enables the company to take part in a fast response DSR programme managed by KiWi Power on behalf of National Grid.

Historically, one of the reasons people have given for their initial reticence to participate in DSR has been a fear of loss of the ability to offer back-up supply to their own UPS systems. However, it is important to point out that the facility will not only earn revenue but also ensure the ability to prove the backup power systems operate as they should – exercising the generators is a must.

DSR (or other forms of export) has been promoted by both National Grid and the distribution network organisations (DNOs) due to the requirement to support

the networks in time of need.

Power stations will no longer be built and the aim is to use the existing network with smart technology – moving power where and when it is needed.

This may include offering incentives to reduce power at specific times or offer power to support the grid.

The form these incentives take are constantly changing and improving to meet the market needs. The power reserve market is the thinnest it has been for many years and the amount of headroom could be insufficient to support demand.

Therefore the utilities are constantly reviewing the means of support in times of need.

The move from mission critical sites has been slower to date, as they still hold concerns for their own power back-up needs – we have completed many sites using solar and diesel missioncriticalpower.uk

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The welcome by-products of demand response are greater efficiencies, increased transparency of asset consumption, operational readiness of back-up generation used and significant earnings and savings potential

missioncriticalpower.uk

where the diesel is backing up the solar requirements and we have completed many sites where they have had a need for the likes of STOR (Short Term Operating Reserve).

Participating in DSR does not necessarily mean the whole of the site has to be utilised – there are facilities to offer smaller percentages, so the whole site is not participating. Many aggregators can offer support and advice on this matter.

So what are the barriers that need to be overcome to encourage greater participation among mission critical sites? It is simply knowledge of how the system operates and how they can be able to participate even though this could be initially at less than the full site’s power available.

Some NHS trusts that have engaged with DSR have suggested that significant investment is required, due to their ageing infrastructure.

Many hospitals particularly in the UK are very established so the local network cannot support large amounts of export power coupled with potentially ageing equipment, so the capital expenditure can be excessive for them.

However, whenever they are refurbishing, extending or renewing existing dated sites, they should review the ability to offer DSR, STOR and firm frequency response (FFR). National Grid and the DNOs are more interested now in supporting the network so their business model is evolving and they are more open to discussions about local infrastructure. The expanding data centre market is relatively new and the local infrastructure is less of an issue for newer builds.

Ultimately, there is a growing demand for everyone to improve their carbon footprint and also offer Carbon Usage Evaluation (CUE).

DSR and the facility to combine technologies such as solar, wind and diesel gives much more flexibility and makes better use of the power available. l

Importance of genset control John Ruddock, from Deep Sea Electronics, says that RfG and P1547 regulations are changing. He argues that a higher level of genset control is now required when synchronising with the grid

R

enewables are much more variable than their fossil fuel counterparts as they depend on weather or climatic conditions, which change. The requirement for increased use of renewable energy, set against the need for maintaining network stability, has led the regulatory bodies within Europe and the US to review their technical standards for grid connected applications.

Current regulations are aimed at immediate disconnection of the appliance on detecting a network fault to avoid the possibility of unintentional islanding, but this is now found to be exacerbating stability issues, as distributed energy resources (DERs) have increased in numbers and their sudden removal from the network no longer goes unnoticed. The new standard and referencing regulations are expected to be rolled out from early 2018 and will be aimed at keeping appliances connected through voltage and frequency dips caused by bulk system faults, unless a genuine unintentional island at distribution level

occurs. Connected appliances will be expected to actively respond to changes on the grid, so the application can be called upon to automatically export more or less power, supporting grid stability.

Genset systems that parallel with the grid, along with other connected applications, will soon need to comply with the new regulations and there are control modules appearing on the market to help.

DSE’s 8610MKII Auto Start and Synchronising genset control module has recently had some additional features designed into the product to meet the new RfG and P1547 regulations. Power and var outputs are designed to be variable depending on frequency and voltage, and when in parallel with the mains new power modes provide the ability to affect the local mains voltage by changing the amount of kvar produced. Other new features include the facility to ‘hot swap’, a redundant MSC link, true manual breaker control, and sophisticated configurable ‘ramp up’ and ‘ramp down’ rates. l The DSE 8610MKII Auto Start and Synchronising genset control module is designed to meet the new RfG and P1547 regulations

December 2017 MCP

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

System volatility poised to create flexibility challenge

Growth in variable renewables will lead to greater volatility in the power system, challenging inflexible ‘baseload’ generators while creating opportunities for new sources of power, a new report concludes

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conomic tipping points mean renewable energy will account for more than half of electricity generation by the mid-2020s in the UK and Germany. This comes as the cost of generating energy from wind and solar is expected to more than halve from today’s levels by 2040.

This rapid growth in variable renewables will lead to much greater volatility in the power system, challenging inflexible ‘baseload’ generators and creating opportunities for new flexible sources, a new report warns.

Due to the variable nature of wind and solar, there will be some days – and even

whole weeks – where the total generation from renewable sources is more than enough to meet power demand in the UK and Germany. However, there will be certain weeks and months when low wind speeds coinciding with cloudy skies will require other generation sources to meet the majority of demand.

These findings are part of an economic study released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and commissioned by Eaton in partnership with the Renewable Energy Association.

The study shows that while there will be a significant increase in the amount of variable renewables on the

29 system, the total back-up capacity needed by 2040 in the UK and Germany will be much the same as in 2017.

The study – Beyond the tipping point: flexibility gaps in future high-renewable energy systems in the UK, Germany and the Nordics – highlights that future energy systems in the UK and Germany with very high levels of variable renewable generation must be complemented by flexible resources, including energy storage.

Key findings of the study include: • At certain times, and with increasing frequency, wind and solar energy alone could meet – and even exceed – total power demand in both markets • With more renewable supply comes more curtailment, but not to significant levels: in 2030, less than 1% of UK and 3% of German wind and solar generation is curtailed or ‘wasted’ due to oversupply. By 2040, this rises to 3% and 16% respectively • Increased wind and solar generation results in more variable demand for other energy sources to plug power supply gaps. In this environment, flexible power technologies such as energy storage and gas generators will

have an advantage. In addition, certain types of demand response such as flexible electric vehicle charging and variable industrial loads can respond quickly to conditions on the grid, or shift or consume surplus renewable energy • As early as 2030, there will be whole weeks where wind and solar power generation exceed total demand at some point every day. This creates a very challenging environment for ‘baseload’ technologies that benefit from running at a constant stable output, such as nuclear, coal and lignite • However, even in the 2040 scenarios, there will be some weeks and months where generation other than wind and solar must be called upon to meet the majority of demand. Such long ‘gaps’ cannot be filled with demand response and current energy storage technologies. A fleet of flexible resources will need to be maintained to meet these gaps, including gas generation, interconnectors and dispatchable renewable technologies such as bioenergy.

• In future, long-term storage solutions such as hydrogen may come into play This study highlights a seismic shift in how power

systems will operate in future, according to Albert Cheung, head of global analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “As wind and solar become the cheapest options for power generation, the race is on to develop and deploy the flexible resources that will complement them,” he says.

Eaton commissioned this economic study to understand the size of the challenge before exploring possible policy and technology responses, which will be the focus of the second part of the study to be released in early 2018, according to Louis Shaffer,

Renewable Energy Association chief executive Nina Skorupska says: “The study shows that wind and solar power are now the cheapest form of new-build generation in many cases, and costs will continue to fall dramatically. Massive increases in future renewable power generation mean that industry and government must start planning now to ensure lowcarbon, cost-effective ways of balancing demand and supply.

“We believe that there is a role for fuelled renewable technologies such as bioenergy and energy from waste to

This study shows that battery storage is well placed to serve short-term supply and demand issues distributed energy segment manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Eaton.

“These solutions could include continued promotion of smart metering, reforms to increase market openness and transparency for all grid ancillary services and longterm grid service contracts and pricing schemes. We will also analyse the benefits of various policy options for the future of the energy market that include battery storage,” he says.

provide the complementary baseload generation that will be required, to avoid the need for carbon intensive generation at all. This study shows that battery storage is well placed to serve short-term supply and demand issues and highlights the dramatic cost reductions in renewable power over the past few years,” adds Skorupska. l An executive summary of the study is available for download at eaton.com/tippingpoints

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RISK MANAGEMENT

70%

Say that their organisation’s process for evaluating cloud and colocation providers needs improvement

Who flicked the switch?

Why do we continue to throw the technician ‘under a bus’ when the power goes off?

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he causes and consequences of data centre outages were discussed by the Uptime Institute’s Matt Stansberry and Pitt Turner at a recent executive symposium held in Las Vegas. They revealed that there were eight major outages in January 2017 alone, and the type of organisations that experienced problems included a broad spectrum of industry sectors – from big brands to government agencies.

The pair highlighted the results of a recent data centre survey which showed that 25% of respondents had experienced an outage in the past 12 months. “For an industry that believes it has it all figured out, we shouldn’t be going down at these rates,” Stansberry commented.

He pointed out that members of the Uptime institute had half as many instances. “Of the outages we looked at, the biggest causes were power MCP December 2017

outages and software issues, which are entirely preventable,” said Stansberry.

Blaming the engineer Following some high-profile power outages, there has been a tendency to blame incidents on engineer failures during routine maintenance. Individuals have been “thrown under a bus”, according to Stansberry and Turner. But is the technician really at fault for making a mistake?

“If a technician makes a mistake during maintenance, that is unfortunate,” commented Turner. “But if the processes they follow allow a mistake to ripple directly into the organisation’s operations, this is a process error and the management should own this.

Stansberry commented: “It is not the fault of the person that made the mistake, it is the executive that made the decision to short-change training and staffing.”

The Uptime Institute is calling on the data centre sector to step back and look at the context in which mistakes are made – management and operation processes need to be scrutinised. At least 38% of outages are attributed to human error, including the high-profile AWS and British Airways incidents.

“In the case of the British Airways incident, a facilities contractor was blamed for flicking the wrong switch, but why was that person in the position to flick the wrong switch?” asked Stansberry.

He believes that, if tried and tested processes had been followed, a catastrophic situation could have been

averted. Sometimes processes and procedures may be in place but are circumvented – particularly if there is pressure to complete tasks quickly.

Turner pointed out that the aviation safety culture found in the cockpit, which closely adheres to procedures, needs to be translated to the areas of the industry that have business consequences. Looking at the bigger picture is key.

The following should be attributed to management errors, not technician errors, according to Stansberry and Turner: • Design compromises • Training budget cuts • Staffing reductions • Lack of preventive maintenance • Selecting the lowest cost vendor The Uptime Institute reports that 62% of publicised outages were IT infrastructure service providers. More than 70% of respondents said that their organisation’s process for evaluating cloud and colocation providers could use improvement. Of particular concern is the fact that 15% describe the process as incoherent.

“You cannot simply blame the provider when key services go down,” Stansberry warned.

“It is incumbent on the enterprise to define what their IT infrastructure really needs, before they choose a provider," he concluded. l

It is not the fault of the person that made the mistake, it is the executive that made the decision to short-change training and staffing missioncriticalpower.uk

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DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE

Optimising critical sites At DCD Zettastructure, Panduit discussed the latest developments in converged infrastructure solutions. Louise Frampton met with Sander Kaempfer and Michael Akinla to find out about the latest trends and strategies aimed at optimising facilities, from intelligent PDUs to software designed to reduce thermal risk

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onverged IT infrastructure is having an increasing contribution in relation to reduced energy consumption, as well as leading to better control of the IT compute environment, according to Panduit EMEA business development manager, integrated data centres, Sander Kaempfer. Emerging data centre trends, including virtualisation, can add complexity and increase implementation time. However, pre-configured infrastructures can help solve this problem.

Kaempfer explained: “Our strategy is to develop solutions for data centres that reduce deployment time.

MCP December 2017

There is a need for more pre-configured, converged infrastructure solutions to help people to accommodate easier applications in a shorter time.”

Designed and built as an interoperable, end-to-end solution, Panduit ‘converged infrastructure solutions’ aim to facilitate faster implementation by streamlining the process of designing, specifying, installing and managing the increasingly complex physical infrastructure necessary to optimise the data centre. The company reports that preconfigured cabinet solutions can reduce time-to-production by up to 80%.

Among the solutions on show at this year’s DCD

Zettastructure included intelligent PDUs (SmartZone) and real-time monitoring and automated environmental control (SynapSense).

Intelligent PDU Kaempfer said that although 55% of customers currently opt for non-intelligent PDUs, the demand for intelligent solutions is growing. To meet this demand, the company’s ‘Generation 5’ PDU range will become available in both intelligent or non-intelligent versions by February 2018.

The G5iPDU is more than a power distribution unit and energy meter.

These intelligent PDUs can monitor the data centre

power and environment at the rack or cabinet level by continuously scanning for electrical circuit overloads and physical environmental conditions that place critical IT equipment at risk. The intelligent PDUs provide accurate energy measurement data to efficiently use power resources, make informed capacity planning decisions, improve uptime, measure PUE and drive green data centre initiatives to save energy and money.

“Customers are fully aware that they have to undertake capacity planning. If you want to do this properly, you have to understand your power draw. This can be done in an missioncriticalpower.uk

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Intelligent PDUs can monitor the data centre power and environment at the rack or cabinet level

Panduit’s new UK Customer briefing and demonstration centre

Sander Kaempfer

Michael Akinla missioncriticalpower.uk

on-prem data centre as well as an off-prem data centre, with functionality for the tenant as well as the provider. Intelligent PDUs offer dual network access (DNA), which means the tenant can see exactly what the power draw is for capacity planning. At the same time, the provider can have an overview of the facility – both parties can obtain real-time monitoring information,” Kaempfer explains.

He claims that one of the features that makes the range “generations ahead” is the fact the PDUs can withstand 60oC under full loads. “Other competitors offer 60oC but not under full loads,” says Kaempfer.

He adds that customers also have to measure the rack cooling index. For Class 4, the maximum allowable temperature is up to 55oC. The PDUs’ ability to withstand 60oC under full loads is an advantage, therefore. “We can also plug in temperature and humidity sensors to understand the rack cooling index,” he continues.

The controller is also hot swappable, so it can be replaced without having to power down the rack.

According to Kaempfer, the mistake specifiers often make when choosing a PDU is not fully investigating the mean time before failure or ensuring the colour coding is highly visible. He points out that the PDU range has a long mean time before failure, backed

by a three-year warranty.

“The deficits are in the details,” he warned. “Some PDU vendors do not use colour coding on the chassis.

However, to simplify power feed identification and management, colour-coded PDUs are available to help reduce the risk of human error,” said Kaempfer.

A mechanical solution in the form of a cable tie facility is also incorporated to ensure that a critical power connection cannot be accidentally removed without physically cutting through the tie – this is a simple but important feature; human factors are among the biggest challenges with switched PDUs, according to Kaempfer.

Cooling optimisation Converged infrastructure solutions can also improve efficiency by providing operators with crucial insights into their data centres. SynapSense Cooling Optimisation, part of the SmartZone Solutions portfolio, is a powerful DCIM thermal risk management and cooling energy savings solution for large enterprise, colocation and cloud

50%

The cooling capacity reduction that can be achieved through optimisation

computing service providers.

“We know that in traditional data centres the cooling system consumes 30-40% of the total energy – as SynapSense can reduce cooling capacity by up to 50%, users can also reduce their energy consumption,” said Kaempfer. “We have had case studies where customers have been able to save up to 15%-20% of the total power going into the facility.”

Kaempfer explained that Panduit can reduce thermal risks and maintain resiliency through a reliable and secure wireless mesh networking technology, airflow optimisation services and manual or automated cooling control. Overall, the SynapSense wireless monitoring and cooling optimisation solution provides visibility to enhance environmental consistency.

“In a lot of water cooled data centres with raised floors, operators do not balance the floor. There may be low pressure in one area and higher pressure elsewhere.

We know that if you have low pressure, you will not have enough airflow through your precious IT equipment. This system measures differential pressure in the raised floor in the complete data hall. It also provides key temperature readings. The system not only reduces energy consumption but also helps operators meet SLAs,” Kaempfer commented. » December 2017 MCP

Sponsored column

Let’s get digital New demonstration centre

Ibrahim Cobanoglu, business manager in ABB’s Grid Automation business unit within the Power Grids division in the UK, explains the advantages of digitalising substations There has been a great deal of discussion about digital substations, with a tendency to regard them as part of an idealised future concept for intelligent grids. However, now that the first practical projects are under way in the UK we can explore just why digital substations might be desirable.

In conventional substations, information from the primary equipment is connected back to intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) using multiple copper wires carrying analogue signals. These IEDs receive the analogue data, perform first-level analysis and provide the gateway into the digital world. In a true digital substation, the analogue data is converted at the primary interface point and taken it into the digital domain at the source, enabling multiple copper cables to be replaced by a single dualredundant fibre optic cable.

Through permanent system supervision, digital equipment reduces the need for manual intervention. The digital equipment that has to be located out in the switchyard must be easy to install, and every bit as robust and reliable as the analog equipment it is replacing or interfacing to.

This applies especially to the non-conventional instrument transformers (NCITs) that can make things entirely digital and enable a substation to be simpler, cheaper, smaller and more efficient. Over the past decade, ABB has supplied more than 300 NCITs (combined current and voltage sensors fitted into gas-insulated switchgear) for use in Queensland, Australia, and the utility has yet to see a single failure in the primary sensor.

Not everything can be digital – for example, analog data will continue to arrive from conventional current and voltage transformers. In any case, there is no need for wholesale replacement when a standalone merging unit can perform the transition to digital right beside the existing instrument transformer.

Fibre optics can then replace the copper cables connecting the primary equipment to the protection and control IEDs. Reducing copper reduces risk The transition to fibre optics is significant because every piece of

copper in a substation represents a potential risk. For example, where current is incorrectly disconnected, such as with an open secondary current transformer, arcing may occur as dangerously high voltages build and a copper line can suddenly carry high voltage, putting operators and equipment at risk.

A digital substation dispenses with copper by using the digital process bus, based either on fibre optics or a wireless network. The potential to reduce the quantity of copper wires in a substation by 80 percent can help to justify the switch to digital. There can be a substantial cost saving, but more importantly there is a significant safety enhancement.

Implementing a process bus also adds flexibility since digital devices can speak directly to each other. For this, the IEC 61850 standard defines the protocol for fast transmission of binary data. Part 9-2 of the standard describes the transmission of sampled values over Ethernet.

These principles ensure the timely delivery of high-priority data via otherwise unpredictable Ethernet links.

Ready for FITNESS The first multivendor digital substation monitoring, control and protection systems in the UK are being implemented at Scottish Power Energy Networks’ 275kV Wishaw substation as part of the FITNESS (Future Intelligent Transmission Network Substation) project. The four- year project, funded by Ofgem as part of the RIIO NIC (Network Innovation Competition) programme, will show how digital communications over fibre can replace traditional copper connections to protect, monitor and control transmission networks.

FITNESS is a vital step to proving the case for digital substations in facilitating grid automation and the convergence of information and operational technologies. And when digital technology is accepted as the UK norm, we can anticipate significant savings in overall substation costs and a footprint reduction of around 15%.

Panduit has recently opened its new UK Customer Briefing and Demonstration Centre in London, providing an opportunity to see the company’s latest solutions first-hand. The new facility, based in the heart of the City, provides 200m2 of data centre, enterprise and industrial automation demonstration, conference and office space.

The centre contains an operational data centre to illustrate the company’s and its partners’ hardware and software capabilities. Visitors can interact with all aspects of the data centre including contained environment cabinets, white space security, heat and cooling systems, structured cabling and thermal analysis, control and management systems. This centre joins Panduit’s Customer Briefing Centres in Brussels, Milan, Paris, Singapore, Shanghai, Mexico City, Schwalbach, Germany and Chicago.

Panduit Europe TSE manager EMEA Michael Akinla also revealed plans for 3D software to optimise the design of facilities.

“We are working with our development partner, ICE, on the ability to offer a ‘walk through’ experience so that people can test out a design before it’s built. At present, we can provide a 3D movie ‘fly-through’ showing cabinets, containment, above and under floor, the fire suppression system and air handling system. However, next year, we expect to be providing certain elements in virtual reality to offer a more immersive experience for customers,” he explained.

“We are all about making the customer experience more user-friendly – but above all our solutions are designed to save the customer money, whether it is controlling the air, so that fan speeds can be reduced and ensuring that cabling isn’t blocking air flow; or enabling high density and ‘cramming’ as much connectivity as possible into the space, so there is more space for servers, etc.”

Akinla commented that the data centre market continues to flourish in the UK. “Brexit is always a concern – but, at this point in time, we are still seeing a lot of investment from multinational companies. Growth in the UK is still strong,” he concluded. l

SynapSense missioncriticalpower.uk

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ENERGY STORAGE

Capitalise on the potential of back-up battery power Rock Clean Energy managing director Chris Roberts discusses how to protect your operation from expensive power disruptions and manage your exposure to energy price rises with energy storage

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ur electricity system in the UK is coming under significant pressure as it transforms into a new, more flexible, low-carbon system for the 21st century and beyond. This transformation could pose a growing threat to the profitability of many businesses that are reliant on a stable and secure supply of electricity and take no action to minimise the risks.

While some businesses have sought to protect themselves from power outages using diesel or gas back-up power systems, many have elected to accept the risk on the basis the likelihood of such an event is too small to justify the cost of tying up capital (or lease costs) in diesel generators. However, this transformation means the risk is growing.

Thankfully, with the threat comes opportunities in the form of a new generation of electricity storage systems based on batteries, such as the Tesla Powerpack. Driven by the growth in electric vehicles, prices of rechargeable lithium batteries have reduced in price to such an extent they offer a viable alternative back-up power solution.

Not only can they provide short-term back-up power but they can add to a business’s bottom line through additional energy saving and revenue generating functions.

So why is our electricity system coming under pressure?

Historically the system has been designed and built around large, centralised power stations (coal, gas, nuclear) and a network of wires, transformers and switchgear, branching and

MCP December 2017

The Telsa Powerpack can make a significant contribution towards lowering operational costs

Bess response times may not be as fast as UPS but the Tesla Powerpack can pick up a full site load in about 200 milliseconds

tapering towards the towns and cities where that power is required. The problem is, this system is too inflexible for the demands it now faces: • Our current coal-fired power stations are due to retire by 2025 as they are beyond their service life • Demand for electricity is growing and that situation will only get more acute with the announcement that the sale of new diesel/petrol vehicles will be banned from 2040, so driving the growth of EVs • An increasing proportion of generation is being provided by renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar. Nearly a

third of UK electricity came from renewables in the second quarter of 2017. This ‘distributed generation’ from renewable energy is both variable in output and has the potential to push power backwards through that tapered system, which is not designed for that purpose Consequently, this is making it increasingly challenging for the system operator, National Grid, to ensure the system remains stable and to “keep the lights on” – at an affordable price for the end user. There are two principal challenges: 1. To ensure there is sufficient generation capacity on the system, at the right times, and in the right places to match consumption 2. To maintain the standard missioncriticalpower.uk

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£100k+

The amount that battery energy storage systems can earn through frequency response

a half-hourly metered supply. If that is the case, then it is likely that you’ll be charged a different price for electricity at different times of the day and year. This takes two forms: 1. Distribution Use of System (DUoS) charges where the price per unit of electricity is charged in bands according to the time of day and is highest in the ‘Red’ band later afternoon, early evening (typically between 4pm and 7pm) 2. Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges based on peak consumption at three points of the year between November and February (Triads) These two charging systems are designed to encourage lower demand on the system during peak periods as an alternative to increasing generation.

AC frequency of 50Hz. This frequency is a function of the spinning inertia of large steam turbines, but as the number of such large thermal generators on the system reduces then the lower system inertia means the frequency can drift and become unstable In times gone by the solution would have been to build more, large, centralised power stations and upgrade the transmission and distribution system. The problem with this traditional approach is that, apart from nuclear, these power stations

burn fossil fuels so emit carbon dioxide.

Both the power stations and the transmission and distribution would have to be sized for peak demand and then operate for most of the time below that level, so sub-optimally.

This traditional approach would be prohibitively expensive in the context of our competitive energy market.

Instead, the system is gradually being transformed into a more flexible and smart system where supply and demand are matched intelligently.

You may already see in your organisation’s energy tariff some elements of this emerging smart system if your organisation has

What are the risks?

Quite simply, the risk is fluctuations in power quality or loss of power altogether because this transition to a fully smart system is unlikely to be without problems along the way.

A recent report published by Centrica gives some surprising insights: 81% of businesses experienced at least one energyrelated failure in the past 12 months. The average number of incidents being 12 (energyrelated) failures in the past 12 months.

What is most surprising is the estimated cost of a power outage ranges from 3% of annual turnover for an outage of only an hour, rising to 18% for outages lasting a day in some manufacturing businesses. In my opinion it is more likely that businesses

will experience short-duration outages which occur more often.

Based on these statistics, only four one-hour outages a year could cost more than 10% of annual turnover – and that is a significant cost.

How can batteries help?

As mentioned, diesel or gas generators have been the most common form of back-up power and can be a cost-effective way of providing for longer power outages but they do have their disadvantages: • The ideal start-time delay is a subject of debate but at minimum this is likely to be at least 3-5 seconds. They cannot therefore help protect against short-term power quality issues • They require a rigorous maintenance routine and, even then, there is always doubt if they will start when required • Diesel fuel can degrade over time, so the generator needs to be operated even when grid power is available • The impact of legislative change – such as restrictions on the use of diesel generators to improve air quality – is a constant concern when planning for the future Battery energy storage systems (Bess) can be an alternative, or complementary, to other forms of back-up power systems.

Their response times may not be as fast as UPS but the Tesla Powerpack can pick up a full site load in about 200 milliseconds and then operate for several hours (depending on the system specified). Figure 1 is a comparative illustration of start and run times of three different back-up solutions. »

Figure 1: Comparison of start and run times

UPS Bess

M.Sec

Diesel/gas

Seconds

missioncriticalpower.uk

Minutes

Hours

December 2017 MCP

Sponsored column

Firms urgently need an energy resilience strategy Centrica Business Solutions has produced a research-based report that outlines the poor state of energy resilience today and practical guidance for businesses to implement a more energy resilient future.

The importance of energy continuity We live in an era of increased business risk. While news headlines focus on threats to business such as cyber-crime, there is a more pervasive and immediate issue in the form of security and continuity of energy supply. Energy is vitally important to every business, but it is only when an energy-related failure occurs that the operational vulnerabilities of a business become exposed and the need for a secure energy source becomes essential.

Perception vs. reality There is a disparity between the threat posed by energy-related failures and the degree to which businesses are preparing for them.

Centrica Business Solutions has conducted research across multiple sectors to get a true picture of the challenges posed by lack of energy continuity, and what steps businesses are taking to address them. Though many acknowledge the reality of the threats to their energy supply, most think it will either never happen to them, or someone else will take care of the problem.

The report provides insight into the poor state of energy resilience today and practical guidance for businesses to implement a more energy resilient future.

Stakes are high The impact of a power failure on any business is potentially huge and it doesn’t have to be long for its effects to be long lasting. One out of every ten businesses surveyed said that an outage of only one hour would be catastrophic to their operation.

Power failures affect all areas of business. Operational downtime is a major issue that can also lead to lost inventory and equipment damage. Some businesses even state that outages have damaged their overall brand and relationships with customers.

Then there is the human cost.

11% of businesses say employees have been endangered as a result of energy-related failures. That is simply unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the frequency of failures is only set to increase: 81% of businesses experienced at least one energy-related failure in the last 12 months and 52% think it likely that they will experience an energy-related failure within the next year – in fact 5% say it’s a near certainty.

But why?

There are more frequent and increasingly destructive natural disasters due to climate change.

Local and national electrical systems – even individual buildings – are an increasingly frequent target for cybercriminals. And the age-old problem of human error remains an unavoidable cause of power outages.

So how can we address the problem?

Businesses need an energy resilience strategy in place to protect themselves. Centrica Business Solutions’s research shows that there is a direct correlation between businesses that have a mature energy resilience strategy and positive business outcomes.

To take the next vital step in protecting the energy supply to your business, download the report at centricabusinesssolutions.com/ resilience

The big difference with Bess over diesel/gas is that unlike the latter, Bess can also operate as an energy management tool to reduce energy costs and provide services to National Grid to help with the growing need for flexibility: • Peak shaving – the Bess can be charged either: directly from the grid when power is cheap (eg green/amber DUoS band) or through onsite generation such as solar, and then discharged during peak times to reduce DUoS and TNUoS charges.

• Peak support – many commercial sites operate at or near the capacity of their incoming electricity supply which limits expansion or increases in production. Often the only way to increase that supply can be to pay for an expensive upgrade (even then the local network might be constrained). The Bess can provide extra peak power to supplement the incoming supply so mitigating the need (and cost) to upgrade it.

• Frequency response – the Bess can help control local grid frequency to minimise deviations from 50Hz. National Grid pays providers of this service (a 1MW Bess could earn upwards of £100,000 per annum) and their need is forecast to increase.

• Capacity Market – the Bess can export electricity on demand (Demand Side Response/DSR) to effectively provide generation capacity to help National Grid balance the system. Again, National Grid pays for this service which, based on the last auction, could be around £22.50/kW

10%

The percentage of annual turnover that can be lost through just four 1 hour outages per year If the likelihood is only short-term power loss or power quality issues then a Bess, such as the Tesla Powerpack, would be sufficient on its own.

If longer-term back-up is required as well then, the Powerpack can operate in parallel with diesel or gas.

The Powerpack is fully scalable depending on a site’s power and energy requirements: • Inverter Power output from 50kW upwards to multimegawatt • Usable energy capacity in multiples of 210kWh (each Powerpack) • Connects from 380V to 480V 3phase or via step-up transformer to high-voltage system • Enclosures rated for outdoor location • Round trip efficiency of 88% • Warranty of 10 to 15 years depending on duty • Small and compact footprint A typical system for a medium manufacturing plant might be 500kW inverter and five x 210kWh Powerpacks giving a two-hour system with the potential of financial returns repaying the capital cost in less than four years and make a significant contribution towards lowering operational costs. l

The big difference with battery energy storage systems (BESS) over diesel/gas is that, unlike the latter, BESS can also operate as an energy management tool to reduce energy costs and provide services to National Grid to help with the growing need for flexibility missioncriticalpower.uk

COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

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Keeping your cool: the need for a change of culture Cooling has a significant impact on data centre operation and the implications of failure can be severe – thermal risk needs to be eliminated at all costs, warn EkkoSense CEO Dean Boyle and CTO Stuart Redshaw. Louise Frampton reports

Thermal optimisation reduces risk, saves on energy costs and improves utilisation

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arlier this year, EkkoSense published startling statistics revealing that almost eight out of 10 UK data centres are currently non-compliant with ASHRAE Thermal Guidelines.

Thermal issues are among the most common causes of loss of service, yet 95% of data centres do not perform controlled cooling resilience tests. The company’s Dean Boyle and Stuart Redshaw believe there is a need for a change in culture – cooling systems are not often investigated, in stark contrast to back-up power systems.

“If you talk to data centre operators, the thought of not periodically testing their generators would seem alien.

It is part of what you do and no one would question that activity. However, most data centres would not routinely simulate failure of their cooling

missioncriticalpower.uk

devices because they would be too insecure of the effect of that failure on their facility.

As a result, they tend to find themselves in a position where, unless machines have to be switched off for maintenance, they are not tested or cycled on and off.,” comments Boyle “While they advertise they are working to a resilience limit, and have more cooling machines than they need, very few of them test this. There is a big contrast in how they manage their cooling assets compared to how they manage their power assets, despite the fact that both are critical to the operation of data centres.”

Boyle and Redshaw point out that thermal optimisation tackles three major data centre challenges – it not only mitigates risk but also delivers significant energy benefits and frees capacity. They explain

that data centres can save an average of 23% on their energy costs.

Cooling utilisation In addition, instead of continually adding cooling systems, data centres can keep existing cooling systems on standby and realise additional capacity. Most data centres don’t actually know their current cooling utilisation.

EkkoSense’s research found that typical cooling unit utilisation rates stand – on average – at just 34%, and organisations are spending far more than they need to on expensive data centre cooling hardware.

Research also suggests that less than 5% of data centres are actively monitoring and reporting individual rack temperatures and their compliance. The result is that »

Often you will find just a handful of sensors being used on pillars across the room, or perhaps one on every 10 racks or so. This isn’t of much use – a single rack could house the most important server Stuart Redshaw December 2017 MCP

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COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

they have no way of knowing if they are truly compliant with ASHRAE Thermal Guidelines.

Sensor technology “Often you will find just a handful of sensors being used, on pillars across the room, or perhaps one on every 10 racks or so. This isn’t of much use – a single rack could house the most important server. Every rack is affected by the cooling system,” says Redshaw.

“There must be sufficient granularity of data and transparency and it must be simple to use and simple to implement.”

“There is a strong argument for telemetry, to provide monitoring for all of your racks, but the safest way to know that a cooling machine will not have a negative effect on the data centre, when it is turned off, is to have sensors measuring the temperature of all of the thermally sensitive equipment in the data centre, so that you can link the two together,” adds Boyle.

“Under very controlled conditions, you can turn off a cooling machine, while monitoring the temperature of all the IT equipment – if there is no negative effect, it passes the test. If there is a negative effect, you can turn the cooling machine back on under very controlled conditions. This is one of the key reasons for promoting sensor technology.”

Real-time data The company’s approach to thermal optimisation includes a combination of immersive 3D software, Internet of Things sensors and expert thermal services, providing the real-time cooling data required to apply space, power, cooling and

95%

The percentage of data centres that do not perform controlled cooling resilience tests MCP December 2017

other airflow inputs more intelligently.

A specialist team of thermal and cooling experts take advantage of the company’s EkkoAir technology – an Internet of Things-enabled monitoring solution – to track data centre cooling loads in real-time. EkkoAir tracks live cooling and airflow monitoring for critical CRAC cooling duty performance, enabling the 3D visualisation of actual cooling performance across the data centre room.

The team can track thermal instabilities right across the data centre, enabling organisations to successfully balance their thermal profiles so that only those cooling units that need to be working are active. EkkoSense’s thermal optimisation team will initially set an energy benchmark for the data centre, ensure the operator understands how power is being used in the facility and then complete a sweep of sensors across the site, so that the temperature for each piece of thermally sensitive equipment is noted.

“This allows us to promise our customers that, during the process of optimisation, we will not allow any piece of equipment to go over the ASHRAE temperature limits,” Boyle explains.

Sensors are then installed throughout the site, so the process of optimisation can begin. This includes modifying the position of vents in the floor, blocking air leakage, changing flow rates on fans, adjusting set points on cooling machines and changing configurations.

“There is a lot of detailed work undertaken to remove the data centre hotspots, increase the temperature of some of the cold spots often found in data centres, and we will improve the energy consumption for the refrigeration machines,” comments Redshaw.

3D simulation Finally, the team will simulate the worst-case failure scenario of the cooling systems, using 3D modelling.

“3D software is an important tool for thermal optimisation.

You can move around the environment and it will give you a complete sense of immersion. It is a much more natural way of working; it allows you to absorb information much faster, and ultimately it ensures that you don’t miss equipment getting too hot or too cold; it is a much better way of interfacing with a large amount of information,” Boyle continues.

“In the future. data centres will be able to walk around with handheld devices, scan them over objects and receive live temperature, thermal, cooling, capacity, power data.

We expect data centres will

be ahead of other industries in adopting cutting-edge technology that enables remote, immersive interaction with a facility from anywhere in the world and see enormous potential for this market in terms of thermal optimisation,” says Redshaw.

“By applying the real-time, rack-level machine learning data gathered by our IoT sensors to the EkkoSoft Critical spatial model, we are now moving towards the kind of real-time decisionmaking and scenario planning capabilities that organisations will require to transition towards true AI-managed precision data centres,” he concludes. l missioncriticalpower.uk

41

Identifying hot and cold spots is crucial

3D software is an important tool for thermal optimisation.

You can move around the environment and it will give you a complete sense of immersion Dean Boyle

3D visualisation of cooling performance in a data centre

Advancing 3D thermal visualisation at ‘the edge’ EkkoSense has released the latest version of its SaaS-enabled 3D thermal visualisation and monitoring software.

EkkoSoft Critical helps data centre operators to improve the real-time management of the power, cooling and space aspects of their data centre capacity – helping to identify problems that could threaten IT availability, achieve better visibility of their DC assets and current status, and also significantly reduce data centre cooling energy consumption. With new features, including live airflow analytics, comprehensive estate dashboard support, and tighter integration with Internet of Things (IoT) enabled sensors, EkkoSoft Critical 3.2 enables organisations to see exactly where and how they are currently under-cooling or over-cooling their data centre estate.

EkkoSoft Critical 3.2’s new ‘Zone of Influence’ capability takes advantage of the company’s networked mesh of IoT sensors to accurately capture new levels of data centre cooling data, going beyond basic temperature measurements to also include energy usage and airflow distribution. The new release supports active Airflow Analytics, allowing organisations to cluster airflows into groups supplied by the air handling unit. This creates live airflow ‘Zones of Influence’ that can group racks into clusters that specifically match the cooling unit provisioning them. It also supports previously unattainable measures such as airflow within data centre floor vents. With its range of new Estate Dashboards, the software also reflects the continued evolution of data centres to the ‘edge’ by supporting the growing number of data centre operators needing to optimise cooling across multiple sites and unstaffed locations.

“More and more data centres are moving to the edge, so there’s an increased requirement among data centre operators and facilities management providers for a solution that can help them to monitor real-time thermal data centre performance, optimise their cooling, and making sure they have the right power, cooling and space capacity strategies in place,” comments Redshaw. missioncriticalpower.uk

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Power quality

A complete monitoring solution Alan Hickman, managing director of metering, controls and automation specialist Carlo Gavazzi UK, outlines the latest trends in electrical distribution in data centres and missioncritical applications and highlights an innovative solution to power quality monitoring

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ower outages or power quality issues in mission-critical environments such as data centres, hospitals and industrial process plants can have devastating consequences and lead to financial losses, damage to reputation and reduced business.

Such applications have complex electrical distribution systems and it is essential that end-users monitor key parameters affecting power quality such as leakage currents, neutral-ground voltage, voltage stability, wave shape and harmonics. Equally, effective monitoring of power usage is MCP December 2017

essential to minimise energy consumption and running costs and meet environmental legislation and corporate social responsibility targets.

Key issues Why are power quality issues such as harmonics important?

Let’s take data centres as an example. There are two key issues in any data centre: equipment reliability and running costs. Problems with harmonics will have a detrimental impact on both.

Harmonics can be caused by both current distortion and voltage distortion. Typically, current distortion will be

caused by non-linear loads, while voltage distortion is most likely to be caused when an electrical device pulls current distortion through an impedance.

Harmonics can lead to a reduction in energy efficiency because harmonic currents increase losses on conductors and transformers, creating heat and increasing power and cooling costs. The heat generated by harmonics can increase equipment downtime and cause early equipment failure or breakdowns.

Overall lifespan of electrical equipment can be shortened, leading to increased capital

expenditure as companies are forced to purchase replacement equipment sooner than planned for. Capital costs can also be increased because data centre managers may opt to oversize equipment to compensate for the losses caused by heating and distortion. So the ability for end users to quickly and cost-effectively monitor power quality is crucial.

Today, large data centres are the norm with multiple servers and data racks. Typically, groups of 48 servers are installed in rack panels in big data centres.

Each server supply is protected by a dedicated breaker missioncriticalpower.uk

43 Data centre managers may opt to oversize equipment to compensate for the losses caused by heating and distortion.

So the ability for end users to quickly and cost-effectively monitor power quality is crucial and it is necessary to monitor each branch for effective control of electrical variables and energy cost allocation. The mains supply to the distribution panel (located close to the server racks) must also be monitored and controlled.

A device is needed that is able to monitor this amount of channels while keeping space and installation complexity under control. A traditional metering system requires too much space and a short installation time is also crucial as a single data centre can include 100 to 200 distribution panels. Carlo Gavazzi has

branch circuit and mains supply monitoring • Scalable, modular monitoring • High speed data links between the CT block and the main meter, as a result reducing EMC issues The result is Carlo Gavazzi’s WM50 branch circuit monitoring system. The WM50 is, according to the company, a complete solution for data centres and critical load applications. While the base unit monitors the mains supply, its two branch buses link up to eight 12-channel split-core current transformer blocks.

Scalable benefits The system can therefore be scaled according to specific needs up to 96 branch circuits in any combination of three-phase and single-phase loads or twophase and single phase loads.

This approach reduces installation time by up to 75% when compared with existing solutions and affords a similar saving during commissioning.

The system configuration is extremely fast and intuitive: by following the graphical suggestions of the proprietary software or app, any different topological panel configuration can be easily made. All data can be transmitted to the BMS or data centre monitoring system via either Modbus RTU or Modbus TCP/IP protocols.

The WM50 offers:

Data centres require quick and cost-effective means of monitoring power quality. Carlo Gavazzi claims its WM50 branch circuit monitoring system offers an extremely flexible, scalable, compact, easy and intuitive solution missioncriticalpower.uk

conducted extensive research among end users and suppliers to data centres and missioncritical applications. It became clear that an innovative solution to the market was required, one that offers: • Installation time savings • Space savings over traditional metering solutions • The ability to combine

75%

Reduction in installation time that can be achieved by scaling the WM50 system according to specific needs

• Low measurement cost per channel – users can monitor up to 96 current channels with a single analyser thanks to the 12-channel current sensors • Reduced installation time and errors – the system is equipped with detachable terminals for all connections.

It connects to 12-channel current sensors with proprietary cables. The clips supplied with the sensors ensure that cables are always in order during installation • Scalability – WM50 can be integrated with optional modules to expand its control and communication capacity • Disturbance immunity – digital communications between current sensors and WM50 ensure excellent disturbance immunity • Granular analysis – it provides total and single load measurements (up to 96 current channels) • Clarity – the wide backlit LCD display clearly shows the measurements and the configuration parameter values • Quick configuration – the proprietary UCS configuration software (desktop or mobile version) is free and permits quick system configuration and diagnostics. An optical port is also available for quick analyser configuration The data centre market is booming and with it the need for a quick and cost-effective means of monitoring power quality in such mission-critical applications. Carlo Gazazzi has built on its experience in these markets to offer an extremely flexible, scalable, compact, easy and intuitive solution. l December 2017 MCP

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TRAINING

Skills gap poses a major risk?

Andrew Stevens, CEO, CNet Training, warns that significant knowldege gaps among technicians pose a significant business risk to data centres. He is calling for industry-wide action to address the talent pipeline and improve the skills of the workforce. Louise Frampton reports

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early a third of data centre technicians have been found to pose a ‘high risk to the organisation’, when assessed for competence – highlighting a pressing need to tackle the skills gap in the sector. This was the stark warning issued by Andrew Stevens, CEO, CNet Training, at Data Centres Ireland in Dublin.

During his presentation on the The Future Challenges of the Digital Infrastructure Industry, he explained that data centre technicians were assessed for competence and confidence against five modules comprising: functionality of a data centre; availability and constraints; design and standards; operational systems and processes; and criticality.

He provided a sobering insight into the typical workforce in terms of understanding and confidence in their roles: • 21% can achieve optimum MCP December 2017

performance: they have a high level of understanding and high confidence • 50% have knowledge gaps: they have a lack of understanding of some topics • 29% are potentially a risk: they have misunderstanding and misplaced confidence Given these findings, Stevens concluded that it is “no surprise that human error remains the main root cause of data centre downtime”.

He pointed out that statistics suggest that the percentage of data centre failures caused by human error has not improved in the past 20 years. So why is the issue not being addressed?

One challenge, according to Stevens, is the budget allocated to training by organisations.

He pointed out that millions of euros are spent on data centre equipment that may never be used – yet the people who work in the data centre, every day, often pose the greatest threat.

He called for greater investment in training of data centre employees as part of “good risk management”.

“We all know that outages cost money,” commented Stevens. British Airways compensation, following its well-publicised outage, cost in excess of £150m, for example.

Companies are also willing to spend £100k on certifying their

While the data centre may be well designed, what about the people? It’s not all about the building – everyone should be certified

data centre facility. “While the data centre may be well designed, what about the people? It’s not all about the building – everyone should be certified,” commented Stevens.

He pointed out that businesses do not look at education from a business risk perspective and tend to send their best employees on education programmes – why?

In addition, businesses do not measure the improvements after education, so do not communicate the benefits and results. He highlighted the value that just one employee’s training can bring to an organisation – citing an example where a single individual delivered a $2.5m saving for their employer.

Investing in staff training can pay significant dividends therefore.

The data centre needs to acknowledge and accept the issues it faces and address them, warned Stevens, adding missioncriticalpower.uk

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Advancing data centre skills CNet Training has announced that it has been awarded Associate College status by Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. CNet has been delivering the world’s first and only Masters Degree in Data Centre Leadership and Management in partnership with Anglia Ruskin for three years. The Associate College status confirms a long-term working relationship with the university and provides CNet with responsibility for full delivery of the Masters Degree programme. The three-year Masters Degree is a level seven programme which sits at the top of CNet’s Global Digital Infrastructure Education Framework. The distance learning delivery of the programme means that learners can study at times that are convenient to them, yet they can still easily communicate with their tutors and each other wherever they are in the world.

Successful completion of the degree culminates in a graduation ceremony to receive the Masters Degree in Data Centre Leadership and Management in the famous university city of Cambridge.

that the sector “must learn from other industries” and develop ongoing strategies to support the hierarchy of competence.

In his view, traditional thinking will not solve the skills shortage within the sector.

Stevens said that big businesses are reporting that graduate programmes are no longer fit for purpose and they no longer consider degrees when recruiting.

“There is a mis-match between employers and students,” he commented.

According to a report from the Edge Foundation, 52% of existing students said that, if they had their time again, they would be unlikely to go into higher education under the current financial regime. Stevens highlighted figures that show that students in England are now graduating with average debts of £50,800, and less than 58% reported receiving good value for money. Parents are missioncriticalpower.uk

50% of technicians have knowledge gaps

29%

of data centre technicians pose a high risk to the organisation

now steering their children away from higher education.

At the same time, many organisations want to ‘grow their own’ talent, rather than employing graduates.

In the past, apprenticeships carried a bit of a ‘social stigma’ but perceptions are now changing. Stevens highlighted the opportunities that work-based training offers, such as apprenticeships, and encouraged data centre operators to take greater responsibility for developing training opportunities to bridge the skills gap in the sector as a whole. Engaging students, as early as age eight, is crucial if the sector is going to tackle the skills gap in the future. The sector need to introduce the industry to: schools, parents and careers advisors; approaching universities is too late, he warned.

“It is the responsibility of ALL within the digital infrastructure industry to help spread awareness of the industry,” he commented. “We have to attract the future talent.”

Stevens believes that the

Businesses do not look at education from a business risk perspective and tend to send their best employees on education programmes – why?

digital infrastructure industry needs to address: • Succession planning • The ageing workforce • The early retirees • Widening skills gap • Improve the workforce it already has • Increase the talent pipeline within the industry • Approach affiliated sectors and cross train (M&E) “We have to look to the future and the future is not just next year; it is the next 20 years... The skills shortage or pipeline issue is real; we compete with other industries and they are further advanced,” Stevens commented.

He pointed out that, in the US, some data centres have closed down local further education courses by ‘poaching’ students in a desperate bid to hire young recruits. If the college loses funding and closes, future generations of recruits will be lost. The sector must to take a longer-term view, Stevens urged.

“Ongoing people development has to become a core activity. Traditional thinking will not solve the issue… We often talk about sustainability in this industry, but sustainability is about what we leave behind. We, as an industry, have a duty of care to leave a legacy,” he concluded. l December 2017 MCP

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COOLING & AIR MOVEMENT

Munters scoops Facebook ‘like’ Manufacturer lands biggest order in its history for its Oasis Indirect Evaporative Cooling units

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unters has received significant orders to provide cooling solutions for two Facebook data centres in Europe.

The total value of the combined orders is approximately SEK 450m (£40.5m) depending

on the final selection of options and onsite services.

Having previously supplied the first two phases of Facebook’s project in Clonee in the Republic of Ireland, and the first phase of its more recent development in Odense, Denmark, Munters’ scope will

be to deliver Oasis Indirect Evaporative Cooling units into phase 3 of Clonee and phase 2 of Odense.

Facebook data centres are among the most advanced and energy efficient in the world, and both facilities are powered by 100% renewable energy.

The Odense data centre will also have the infrastructure needed to capture the excess heat generated by the servers and recycle it into the local district heating system operated

by Fjernvarme Fyn. When complete, the heat recovery infrastructure is expected to recover up to 100,000MWh of energy per year, which could produce enough heat to warm up to 6,900 homes.

“We are proud to have won our largest order ever in Munters’ history for the delivery of customised climate solutions for our clients’ mission critical operational environment,” says Neil Yule, president of Munters Data Centre Business Area.

“The polymer tube heat exchanger concept was invented by Munters some 10 years ago. Since then we have worked on various iterations of the design, achieving ever greater levels of efficiency and reliability.”

Munters has been at the forefront of a technology shift in the data centre market, with indirect evaporative cooling enjoying exponential growth, as it gradually replaces the old compressor-based cooling technologies.●

Award win for UBS data centre project

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bm-papst UK has been recognised at the PFM Awards Partners in Facilities Technology category for its partnership on the UBS Data Centre Energy Technology Project with CBRE and Vertiv.

James Cooper, product manager for Ebm-papst UK, said: “This partnership project was an excellent example of how upgrading from AC to EC technology can impact on energy, carbon and CO2 reduction. The UBS project was a hugely successful collaboration between the three organisations and a testament to the expertise and technical skills of the project management teams.”

MCP December 2017

Ebm-papst, collaborated with CBRE and Vertiv to review energy efficiency at three of Global Banking Group UBS’s London-based data centres. Ebm-papst undertook an initial site survey to review the types of CRAC units being used and the potential solutions that were needed, along with an estimation of the payback period. The units that were in place before the project were chilled water with an optional switch to lower performance and utilised AC fan technology.

In order to improve efficiency, Ebm-papst recommended upgrading the equipment with EC fan

This partnership project was an excellent example of how upgrading from AC to EC technology can impact on energy, carbon and CO2 reduction

technology. Based on the survey results, a trial was then agreed on a single 10UC and 14UC CRAC unit to establish actual performance and energy savings. Data was logged before the upgrade and again once the trial units were converted from AC to EC. Since completion, significant savings have been made: • Energy saving - 10,657MWh • Financial saving - £667,836 • CO2 saving - 5,229 tonnes The EC fans from Ebmpapst have continued to deliver energy savings, through increased reliability, resulting in a reduced maintenance burden for CBRE and UBS. ● missioncriticalpower.uk

Products

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New air handling unit offers choice of cooling methods As power densities increase, a new design factor is coming to the fore – precision air conditioning solutions. Air handling units incorporate all the air conditioning equipment of a data centre in one outdoor container, therefore creating more space for productive IT systems inside the actual server area. Stulz introduced its first air handling system back in 2015. With the CyberHandler 2, the specialist for reliable air conditioning solutions is now launching a comprehensively redesigned successor.

The CyberHandler 2 series includes 11 output ratings from 30 to 520kW. It combines free cooling, adiabatic cooling and mechanical chilling in one sealed outdoor container. The choice of chilling methods includes chilled water coils, scroll compressors or a redundant DX system with external condenser. If high availability is required, a fully weather-independent

air conditioning system with a high level of redundancy can be designed, and can work in mixed mode for great energy efficiency.

One of the key new features of this series is the optimised dual brazed plate heat exchanger. This improves the mean efficiency of the overall system, enabling a larger distance between flaps which reduces air-side pressure drops, and slashes the average energy consumption of the fan units.

Battery-free standby power Piller’s Powerbridge PB60+ is a highly compact, efficient and practical replacement for conventional batteries.

The unit can deliver power above 3MW and provide 1MW of electrical power for more than 60 seconds with very low losses and a minimal maintenance.

Following the addition of the PB60+, the existing range of Piller kinetic energy storage systems extends from 3.6MJ to 60MJ-plus.

The company has a strong track record of manufacturing kinetic energy storage over

the past 20 years and now has more than 7,000 units installed around the world.

Andrew Dyke, Piller Group’s managing director of global business, comments: “With, for example, 1 MW of power available for over a minute, the PB60+ can easily take the place of batteries to ride through a power outage while multiple standby generators come on line. This means guaranteed power when you most need it, no need for regular battery testing and no expensive battery replacement part way through a data centre’s life.”

Another new feature is the design of the brazed plate heat exchanger module and the floor pan of the filtering section. In the new series, both these areas are made entirely of stainless steel. Like its predecessor, the CyberHandler 2 saves energy through free cooling. As the air conduction is indirect, no contaminated outside air gets into the data centre, and filter systems also have less to deal with. When combined with an adiabatic module, the runtimes of highconsumption mechanical chilling can be cut to a minimum.

Up to 70% energy savings can be achieved compared with pure DX cooling. The overall more simple installation of electrical distribution boards and pipework also brings cost advantages. Simply by reducing the electrical infrastructure, possible Capex savings of 6% to 8% can be achieved, depending on project conditions.

View UPS in virtual reality Uninterruptible power supplies provider MPower UPS has taken advantage of the latest advances in virtual reality technology to demonstrate its new UPS solutions.

MPower can now show Centiel’s leadingedge, three-phase UPS system, CumulusPower, in three dimensions using bespoke 360° panoramic photography and video to create a short immersive and interactive film.

The result is delivered

to viewers through headmounted displays or VR ‘glasses’.

The three-phase UPS system offers continuous power availability, fault-tolerance and a distributed active redundant architecture (Dara), which removes single points of failure.

Unlike traditional multi-module systems, CumulusPower combines Intelligent Module Technology (IMT), plus Dara, to offer availability of 99.9999999%.

MCB distribution boards deliver flexibility and safety Protecta Plus gives installers and designers flexibility to cover all applications, from standard installations to complex sites. The latest generation sub-distribution solution from ABB is available in kit form for over-the-counter supply.

Contractors can add options to meet customer specifications or order a fully customised solution from ABB’s Low Voltage assembly workshop. Functionality, flexibility and safety are central to the range, which can incorporate ABB’s latest low-voltage technology, such as missioncriticalpower.uk

high-performance MCBs (rated up to 25kA and 100A in a standard 18mm format), MID (Measurement Instruments Directive) approved metering, total board current monitoring system (CMS), the latest RCBOs with contact position indication, earth trip indication window and 15kA ratings, Furse surge suppression devices, quick safe surge protection and the latest DIN-rail products. Protecta Plus boards also meet the latest market requirements for vertical/horizontal power, lighting and services monitoring.

December 2017 MCP

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PRODUCTS

Rack mount UPS system offers high efficiency and flexibility Sometimes you want a very robust on-line rack mount UPS system that you can operate in parallel with extended battery runtime packs, supplied in a rack cabinet with a bypass arrangement, extensive distribution and extra space for your servers and network IT loads.

PRS (Power Rack Solution) UPS system from AEG Power Solutions was specifically developed to meet this type of need. The PRS system features an efficient, highperformance UPS (Protect D.6000 or Protect D.10000 model) integrated into a rack, where IT equipment such as routers or servers can then be added. The concept is flexible and available in a wide range of configurations, fitting precisely to customers’ requirements.

The PRS system provides a ready-to-use solution for a large range of power safety requirements from 6 to 20 kVA. Pre-defined solutions are available with individual or redundant versions, and the UPS can be set up in parallel operation with a parallel control panel. The battery system is integrated and can be expanded to four units.

Eco-efficient air switchgear Following the success of ABB’s ZX0 Air, the company continues to build on its eco-efficient range of medium-voltage gas insulated switchgear (GIS) with ZX2 AirPlus.

AirPlus is a gas mixture for medium-voltage GIS similar to ABB’s dry air technology and is a climate-friendly alternative to traditional SF6, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

ZX2 AirPlus, first released in Europe, with IEC ratings up to 36kV, is now also available in Chinese GB ratings up to 40.5kV rated voltage and 2,000A rated current.

It is designed for primary power distribution to ensure grid reliability, efficiency and safety.

The ZX2 AirPlus shares the same compact dimensions and advantages of the established ZX2 switchgear but boasts a global warming potential (GWP) of less than one. This means a reduction of almost 100% compared with SF6.

MCP December 2017

Alessandro Palin, managing director of ABB’s Medium Voltage business, says: “We are optimistic that ZX2 AirPlus will be as well received as ZX0 Air and follow its success. ABB will continue to focus its efforts on developing eco-efficient technology, so that all of our customers globally will have the option of using an SF6 alternative within the next decade.”

“We listened to our customers,” explains AEG Power Solutions global sales director, data and IT, Robin Koffler.

“We know they need to protect their IT infrastructure, whatever their size, but also and that optimising space is also often an issue. Simple, compact and efficient, the PRS system is the answer. It’s a real plug and play solution, which is unique in this power range.”

Ready for immediate use, the space-saving system enables the installation of IT equipment and power supply in one rack. It requires only one supply line and its removable UPS connection simplifies maintenance.

The system can also be supplied with additional rack extension and pre-mounted distribution units.

Easily expandable, it will grow with the organisation, while minimising additional investment costs. Units are assembled and tested in full compliance with VDE rules and set-up is flexible, fitting various protection standards according to EN 50600-2-2, depending on customers’ requirements.

Testing of transformers Megger has further increased the versatility of its TRAX substation test system by introducing the TSX300 three-phase switchbox.

Available as an optional accessory, this new unit allows threephase transformers to be conveniently tested without the need to reconfigure the test lead connections for each phase.

The added benefit is that switching between phases is controlled manually from the test set without the need for additional climbing.

Also introduced is the TDX accessory unit, which facilitates the use of TRAX test sets to perform tan delta and capacitance measurements. The TRAX/TDX combination can also be used to measure the excitation current of transformer windings and, with an optional test capacitor, to perform automatic tip-up tests and HV turns-ratio testing.

Megger’s TRAX test

sets have been designed to offer a convenient and comprehensive solution for transformer and general substation testing.

They can perform more than 20 different test functions, including measurement of winding resistance, turns ratio, excitation current, shortcircuit impedance, tan delta, capacitance, frequency response of stray losses, CT and VT testing and circuit breaker timing and motion analysis.

The test sets have an intuitive user interface that offers full manual control or guided testing using the built-in TRAX apps.

The TRAX220 has a maximum AC current output capability of 200A, while the TRAX280 extends this to 800A. For both units this can be further extended to 2000A with an optional current booster.

The TRAX220 is the lightest test set of its type, weighing just 32kg in its transport case. missioncriticalpower.uk

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December 2017 MCP

50

Q&A

Michael Akinla Panduit Europe’s TSE manager discusses protecting the skies at more than Mach 1, looking good in Ray-Bans and delivering energy savings Who would you least like to share a lift with? If I was in a lift in a galaxy far, far away, it would certainly be Darth Sidious! But then, would I know it was him, as I would be in the lift with the Sheev Palpatine, the last Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic? I would then in awe of the political power in this one man’s hands, while unaware of his awesome malevolent Sith power.

You’re God for the day.

What’s the first thing you do? I would create plasticdigesting nanobots – specifically targeting plastic in salt-water environments to search and destroy millions of tonnes of discarded bottles and containers that litter the seas and oceans.

If you could travel back in time to a period in history, what would it be? Definitely 212 BC, Syracuse, Sicily to save Archimedes from the Roman who killed him; this genius, who devoted himself to research in a range of fields; who invented the hydraulic screw for raising water and parabolic mirrors. How many more eureka moments could there have been?

Who are you enjoying listening to? A key musical influence is Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

For those who don’t know, you could say he is Nigeria’s John

Darth Sidious MCP December 2017

Lennon. His music was the genesis of Afrobeat and true to the man, much of his music was confrontational to the ruling parties of Nigeria and also other nations, African or otherwise, that held democracy up as the holy grail, while immersed in corruption and prejudice.

He was an activist and inspirational cultural figure.

What unsolved mystery would you like the answers to? This is the mystery that has puzzled me since childhood: why did the dinosaurs become extinct? I’ve watched all the Ice Age movies with my children, and I am no closer to an answer.

I don’t think Buck in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, could have killed all of them!

What would you take to a desert island? I’m imagining sandy beach bordered by palm trees overburdened with fruits and nuts. That means I don’t need the desalination equipment or the food replicator, and can make do with all of Bear Grylls’ survival books – as I’m guessing I can’t take him? A Swiss army knife with all the blades, magnifying glass, fish hook, etc.

Also, as many of Iain (M) Banks books to keep me going until the rescue ship arrives.

What’s your favourite film?

The film I keep coming back to is: Tears of the Sun, a US special ops movie set against a fictional military coup in Nigeria. It concerns the dilemma of following orders and completing the mission or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of villagers from the ruthless rebel fighters. It illustrates the futility of conflict and waste of innocent lives.

If you could perpetuate a myth about yourself, what would it be? That I am an Ascardian, with mastery over the sea. I have an uneasy relationship with deep water, so I have trained in open water swimming to

quash that fear. It began as a boy in Nigeria where friends and I would swim out towards an island off the coast. The stronger swimmers would often dive deeper and pull the younger ones under the water. This game took on a more sinister tone after the film Jaws was made.

What would your super power be and why?

Indestructible. With this super power, my mastery of the oceans and being god for a day, I would show those Great Whites who’s boss. It probably wouldn’t hurt my triathlon times either.

What would you do with a million pounds? A strong work ethic is a family trait, so it would not mean giving up work.

The 50:40:10 rule would come into play – save, spend, charity.

What’s your greatest extravagance? This would certainly be helped by 40% of my £1m: owning my own stunt plane! I have my PPL, and have had the privilege of flying in both the Tiger Moth and the more agile Stempe SV4C. The sensation when rolling or looping a plane is so intense, and you build a strong bond with plane, as you need to understand every feedback that it gives you.

If you were blessed with any talent, what would your dream job be? The talent would have to be the dedication and ability to fly a Typhoon Eurofighter jet. I could handle being a ‘Maverick’, protecting the skies at more than Mach 1. And, look good in Ray-Bans.

What is the best piece of advice ever been given?

Listen and work hard! My father drummed into us the importance of giving people the consideration to listen to what they are saying. Without that courtesy, how can you consider and respond appropriately?

What irritates you the most in life? People who are not prepared to listen, who are not focused and waste time and opportunity.

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

There is currently a wealth of innovations coming on to the market… Panduit is helping many organisations design and build energy efficiency into their facilities, saving tens of thousands of pounds every year.

What’s the best thing – work wise – that you did recently? Work is very exciting at present. Panduit is making inroads into new market areas. We are launching innovative cabling and physical infrastructure systems that support the development of IoT capabilities. As more IoT becomes embedded in our economies bandwidth and latency become major issues, Panduit is innovating in these areas. ● missioncriticalpower.uk

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