Data centers traditionally take their energy from utility grids, and use it to power their data processing equipment. This energy travels a long way from source, and can interrupt for many reasons including technical problems and bad weather. Hence, data centers have back up battery systems to tide them over. Could batteries wind turbines and imagination simplify this process?
Innovative New Way to Harness Batteries and Wind Turbines
Utility distribution systems consume a small portion of the energy they transmit. Website Public Power explains that most of this load loss occurs in primary distribution lines and transformers. It follows that we could reduce emissions slightly by bringing electricity producers and consumers closer.
German innovator WindCORES draw these threads together in an unexpected way, by locating batteries wind turbines and data centers at a single site. This not only eliminates distribution load losses, but also reduces the possibility of utility transmission failure. However, WindCORES has another purpose in mind.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of the Data Center Industry
CNN World News shared how WindCORES plans to store data centers complete with batteries inside wind towers. This could have a measurable green advantage, considering that data centers contribute 1.5% of global electricity use, according to the news channel.
“If you look at the sustainability pyramid, WindCORES managing director Fiete Dubberke explains, “Then the highest form of sustainability is using things that already exist.” This is an important concept, since the current global fleet of 8,000 data centers is expanding every year.
The idea surfaced when a utility realized that its grid was incapable of managing the full potential of its wind farm. The solution was obvious. Move the customers into the turbine towers, complete with their backup batteries.
As things stand, 85-92% of the power demand from a pilot data center comes directly from its parent wind turbine. The utility delivers the balance when wind drops, from its mix of solar farms; and hydroelectric power plants according to CNN News.
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