Revolutionising Data Centre Power with Management with Digital Twins

New Energy Centre and biomass boiler will be installed at a Stowmarket site

Power is undoubtedly the lifeblood that keeps the digital infrastructure in data centres running. The servers, storage systems, and networking equipment all require a constant and reliable power supply. Maintaining this is the number one priority for data centre engineers, as well as having to juggle considerations such as cooling and space limitations, explains Dave King, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Cadence. However, a power fault will not only prevent the data centre from operating but also carries inherent risk and a need for precision. As such, it’s no surprise that it’s a top concern and can be a daunting task to manage without the right tools. Luckily there is technology available to support power management.

One of the main challenges in power planning is acquiring a comprehensive understanding of available power capacity. For instance, if a manager only has knowledge of measured data, such as historical power drawn from a particular panel or breaker, that does not offer a definitive answer about the power already assigned to that piece of infrastructure. This could leave them unaware of the potential impact if and when they make a change.

The manager will know an additional server will use more power, but the amount it consumes will vary dependent on its workload, and how much it varies will be determined by the work it’s doing. For example, a machine that runs periodic jobs that are resource intensive might spike consumption up, while equipment that’s part of a disaster recovery system might usually run idle, waiting for failover from another center. This makes it challenging to understand how much power is being consumed within a facility holistically.

The traditional approach of relying on spreadsheets to understand and manage power capacity often falls short in providing accurate, granular insights and enabling effective planning, particularly for future power demands. This is because spreadsheets, by their nature, are prone to error. They are built on complex calculations that are hard to get right, and when ownership is passed from one individual to the next, mistakes can easily creep in. Digital twin technology - a 3D replica of the physical data centre - offers a powerful alternative, giving complete visibility over the power system in a way spreadsheets never could and working equally effectively from one owner to the next.

Digital twins enable managers to make confident decisions on changes to power systems. They can show what the power draw would look like if equipment was running at maximum load over a month or six-month period, illustrate if the breakers would be overloaded if more equipment was installed, or establish how to balance three-phase power to prevent inefficiencies and loss of capacity due to uneven loads. Engineers can run scenarios, with the software doing all the math, to visualize their options and make an informed decision. As such, digital twins reduce risk.

Digital twins can also deliver cost savings in a couple of different ways. Firstly, as we’ve seen, they put information at managers’ fingertips, so confident decisions can be made quickly. This reduces time spent on each project and, therefore, costs. They also offer cost savings through improving resilience. According to Uptime, power-related outages account for 43% of significant outages. Using a digital twin, managers can achieve better visibility over power loads and simulate failure, which is a powerful tool for preventing expensive outages.

Additionally, costs can be controlled by preventing stranded capacity. This has long been a challenge in data center power management, resulting in wasted physical and financial resources. For example, if power delivery and cooling delivery are mismatched, the facility could end up with either stranded power or cooling. This is because the manager either can’t deploy enough equipment to make use of the cooling or they run out of cooling before all the power that’s been distributed to that rack has been used up. Visualizing how these two things are distributed within a data centre digital twin allows the manager to start matching the utilization of both power and cooling to avoid stranding either.

The benefits of digital twins are clear, but what are the considerations for implementing them?

A top consideration is the managers’ level of understanding of power connectivity; they should have a firm grasp on this and the capacities of each component in the chain so that the digital twin can be deployed effectively.

Another key consideration is how the facility tracks which socket rack equipment is plugged into. Managers may know that equipment is connected to a certain power strip or could have insight into specific socket connections.

Working in conjunction with AMP Clean Energy, Muntons, the Stowmarket-based malt and malted ingredient manufacturer, has signed an agreement to install a new Energy Centre at its site in Stowmarket.

The new energy centre will be located in the North-West corner of their site and will include a Biomass boiler, a gas-powered combined heat and power generator and two, back-up, gas-powered boilers.

This new facility will provide virtually all of their site’s future steam, heat and electricity requirements, whilst also significantly reducing their carbon footprint.

Mark Tyldesley, Muntons Group Managing Director, commented: “We have recently installed a Biomass heat and energy plant at our maltings in Bridlington in Yorkshire, and have already seen significant benefits, including a dramatic reduction in our carbon footprint. “So much so, that with our new plant at Stowmarket this will bring us in line with our science-based target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45%, based on 2010 levels by 2025.”

He continued: “We are delighted to be able to celebrate another major milestone in the history of the site at Stowmarket and look forward to a bright future of sustainable energy supply of which we can all be proud.”

Work on the new facility will begin shortly and it is anticipated that the new biomass plant will begin generating heat and electricity for Muntons from early spring next year.

Muntons’ new facility will include a biomass boiler, a gas-powered combined heat and power generator and two back-up gas-powered boilers – on the north-west corner of its factory site.

Maltster’s AD plant powers equivalent of 2,000 homes a year.

AMP Clean Energy says the project will provide virtually all of the site’s future steam, heat and electricity requirements, while significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

A previous biomass plant at the Bridlington plant came online during 2020, using waste woodchip from forestry activities. This reduced GHG emissions from the heating of the kiln by up to 90%. The site’s energy management system continues to be verified to ISO50001. A project appraisal system has evaluated capital projects for like this for reduced GHG emissions.

Waste facility now heats the equivalent of 8,000 homes

VIRIDOR’S Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre is situated in the south side of Glasgow City at Polmadie. Producing enough energy to power the equivalent of 26,496 households and heat the equivalent of some 8,000 homes, it delivers a saving to Glasgow of 90,000 tonnes of CO² every year.

The Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre Handles 222,000 tonnes of residual waste every year.

Of the vast tonnage of household waste that is collected annually by Glasgow City Council, the vast majority, 72%, was sent to landfill in 2016. With annual hikes in landfill tax and ambitious Scottish

Government zero waste targets focusing on waste reduction, re-use, enhanced recycling and recovering renewable energy from what remains, the council has been working towards great change.

Glasgow has now changed gear with a state-of-the-art recycling and sustainable waste management facility at its long established waste treatment plant at Polmadie, radically overhauling the way the city’s household waste is managed, reports the city council..