The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Solar Power doesn't work for IBM's Data Center
Is Solar Power the Next Big Thing in Data Centers?
According to IBM, Yes. And No.
IBM is known for making big bets on technology, and offering high-end solutions available to its clients.
But should Solar Power be one of those solutions in IBM's (or any company's) data center portfolio?
The Good:
Rod Adkins, a senior vice president in IBM's Systems and Technology Group, states: "The technology behind solar power has been around for many years, but until now, no one has engineered it for efficient use in IT. We’ve designed a solar solution to bring a new source of clean, reliable and efficient power to energy-intensive, industrial-scale electronics.”
This sounds great in a press release, but is solar power ready even now for the IT industry?
The Bad:
Dr Ponani Gopalakrishnan, a VP at IBM's India Software Lab, said: "This solar deployment, currently powering almost 20 percent of our own data centre energy requirements, is the latest in the investments made at the India lab to design an efficient and smarter data centre. Ready access to renewable energy in emerging markets presents significant opportunities for IBM to increase efficiencies, improve productivity and drive innovation for businesses around the world.”
So at this particular data center, solar power provides roughly 20% of the facility's electrical needs when looking in 1 year increments. Is this good enough for professionals who count a single second of downtime as a major failure?
The Ugly:
The truth of the matter is that PV technology is still very inefficient. And even if we are able to capture the majority of the energy thrown at us by the sun, data centers will still be limited to capturing that energy during daylight hours. Not exactly a model for 100% uptime.
Yes, But What Does it all Mean?
The truth of the matter of solar power in data centers is that solar power can augment a data center's power requirements. But solar power is neither efficient or reliable. Storage of solar energy for use at a later date is impossible for all practical applications.
Right now, some of the most advanced PV technology is only 40% efficient. Will Solar technology improve? Certainly. History teaches us again and again that the limits of technology are boundless.
But, here in the early part of the 21st century, what does this mean for us in the Data Center Industry?
The sun only shines part of each day, but servers run 24 hours a day. Facilities Managers, and IT Managers alike need 100% uptime. Factor in 30%-40% energy capture and you have a technology with promise, but one that is not yet ready for the stringent requirements of mission critical applications.
What the solar power industry needs is a breakthrough in energy storage. Batteries, supercapacitors and kinetic storage devices are possibilities, but many feel those technologies are reaching the upper limits of their energy densities.
Another option is already in the works at firms like Google. I like to think of it as the Data Center Cloud. Put your entire data center in the cloud. When electric prices are low, the temperature is cool or the sun is shining, shift your load to that facility. Google already has technology in place to balance its load following the sunrise.
More Info: The Register
What are your thoughts? Should solar power be included in data center design? Should solar power simply be an added bonus, if sold back to the grid? Should design engineers include solar power in their capacity calculations?
Comments
If you are a company with
If you are a company with cash to burn, then solar power may be a good fit for your data center. There are still some credits out there you can get for solar power. Google & Apple both have solar arrays. But they are some of the biggest companies in the world; they can afford to build solar arrays to power their data center. But when those data centers were designed, solar power wasn't a concern. They size the utility feeds according to load. They size the generators according to load. They don't say "Gee maybe we can power 20% of our data center with solar, so instead of 10 generators, let's just buy 8."
Solar power will never be the main source of power for a data center. Maybe a data center company can buy green energy credits to offset their power consumption. Maybe a large data center company can switch from data center to data center following daylight hours (as you suggest Google does). But for 99% of the data centers out there, solar power will never be more than just a bonus.
Solar power can certainly
Solar power can certainly augment your facility. There are numerous companies building solar arrays next to and on top of their data centers. As we all know, the electrical bill for a data center can make or break your margins, so even if you don't rely on solar to directly power your critical load, you can at least use the roof or part of the parking lot to generate electricity to sell back to the power company. That's just smart business.
I agree that I can not
I agree that I can not foresee solar power making up the majority of a data centers power generation but I do think it would be wise and good PR for data centers to attempt some sort of solar generation.
Think about what that could mean for new clients, not only are they looking for reliability but they are also looking for innovation. I think a few solar panels may be note worthy enough to make the client feel like the center is a better option.
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