Is renewable energy our next indispensable technology?
Is renewable energy our next indispensable technology?
Data center owners and IT administrators could make a good case for reasoning that technology innovation has spoiled all of us. − − Data center infrastructure management has automated many tasks that once were labor-intensive, while modularized switchgear and UPS systems have made replacement of power distribution and protection systems much faster and safer. − − Hardware-based networks rapidly have evolved into software-defined networks, making computer networks much easier to manage and program. − − In daily operations, we take for granted the ability to navigate, search the Web, monitor and control operations, view reports, conference face-to-face in real time and snap photographs all with a single pocket-sized device that erupts with new capabilities several times each year.
In total, we have come to realize that what once was unthinkable and impractical may quickly become indispensable. The most current example of these expectations center on renewable energy, in all its forms. Electric-powered cars were a novelty just a decade ago. Now nearly every vehicle auto manufacturer offers a hybrid version, and more all-electric vehicles are on the roads. For businesses, the focus on renewables is sharpening in relation to powering their data centers. Led by initiatives from such hyper-scale tech giants as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, the movement toward renewables and alternative energy sources is gaining momentum. Owners are finding ways to power data centers reliably by solar, wind, geothermal sources, and biogas-based fuel cells. Often these renewable fuels provide a supplement for grid power, but increasingly new data centers are making renewables their primary power source and relying on the grid for times when demand is high but solar or wind power has dwindled.
What stands in the way of the most available renewables (solar and wind) from becoming full-fledged, fulltime power systems for data centers is the issue of storage. To be most effective, renewable energy systems should store excess energy that it generates for use at night, in the case of solar, or in times of calm winds. Long-term storage has been a challenge, however, and innovators continue to pursue the goal of more reliable, less expensive battery energy storage systems that can retain power over longer periods of time. A couple ongoing developments in this pursuit are encouraging. Fuel Cell Today, which reports on developments in fuel cell technology, has examined the potential use of fuel cells not only to create energy but also to store it. This reverse method involves feeding excess electricity that is generated by renewables into an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen then is stored and made available to fuel cells to generate electricity as required, releasing power to the grid. In this scenario in which renewable energy is used to produce hydrogen, a fuel cell can be considered a renewable energy source. The other interesting development is the recent announcement from Tesla that the company has transferred its advanced vehicle-battery technology to a battery that can power homes and businesses. The Tesla Powerwall is a wall-mounted lithium ion battery that charges either from solar panels on the building’s roof or from the grid at times when utility rates are lowest. In its initial form, Powerwall is designed to power homes in the evening and to provide a backup electricity supply. It enables home and business owners to avoid paying peak rates while making the power supply more resilient. Currently, a single Powerwall battery can provide 10kWh of energy, and as many as nine of them can be installed together to produce 90 kWh—a pittance compared to the needs of a data center. But, as with the technology that preceded it, this seemingly impractical device may indeed become indispensable before we know it. Like the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft that is flying around the world on solar power alone, an evolved Powerwall may be blazing a path to new, commercially viable technology as it quickly matures. Tesla reports it already is “working with utilities and other renewable power partners around the world to deploy storage on the grid to improve resiliency and cleanliness of the grid as a whole.” Elon Musk, the tech giant behind Tesla, also created the SpaceX system for sending men to orbit. Compared with NASA’s decades of experience, SpaceX initially seemed to be just a dream; but the company – despite a few failures – has successfully launched boosters and payloads that quickly made it a primary launch system for supplying the International Space Station. In just two more years, SpaceX will be attempting to launch men to the station as well. The lesson to be learned is not to underestimate the speed of innovation that has brought us to where we are and that is propelling us toward what we will become. In the case of data center power, the cost for solar power and other renewab-
2 Is renewable energy our next indispensable technology? | ABB article
les already are very close to the energy costs from the grid, due in part to government incentives. Once these systems are built, the power is minimal and limitless, so their annual total cost of ownership will continue to decline after they are placed in operation. Barriers remain, of course. Rooftop solar may be impractical because of the immense number of photovoltaic cells required to produce the power needed by data centers. But data center owners can contract for power from offsite solar farms through power purchase agreements (PPAs) or through renewable energy certificates (RECs) in the U.S. and renewable energy guarantees of origin (REGOs) in Europe. Limitations on available land may make wind impractical on some sites, but again the power produced by massive wind farms can be purchased directly. For now, the most viable method of increasing the role of renewables—a goal that responds to pressures from societal groups and governments—may be to employ microgrids. These platforms, such as those developed by ABB, integrate energy from many different resources--the grid, diesel generators and renewables—and rely on the most appropriate source at any given time to help reduce utility bills where grid power is expensive or unreliable. Among the technologies that they may incorporate are solar inverters, which convert direct current produced by solar modules into alternating current with efficiency topping 98 percent, along with flywheel-based generators and software to smooth out power fluctuations It is likely that we have not yet even envisioned the full potential of renewables to reduce costs, increase reliability and help data centers become more socially responsible. Eventually, however, we will be pleased to discover that this technology, too, has spoiled us, as we look toward an ever quickening pace of change and improvement.
For more information please contact: ABB Data Centers 12040 Regency Parkway Cary, NC 27518 Phone: +1 800 HELP 365 www.abb.com/datacenters www.abb.com
Note: We reserve the right to make technical changes or modify the contents of this document without prior notice. With regard to purchase orders, the agreed particulars shall prevail. ABB does not accept any responsibility whatsoever for potential errors or possible lack of information in this document. We reserve all rights in this document and in the subject matter and illustrations contained therein. Any reproduction, disclosure to third parties or utilization of its contents – in whole or in parts – is forbidden without prior written consent of ABB. © Copyright 2015 ABB Inc. All rights reserved.
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Data center owners and IT administrators could make a good case for reasoning that technology innovation has spoiled all of us. − − Data center infrastructure management has automated many tasks that once were labor-intensive, while modularized switchgear and UPS systems have made replacement of power distribution and protection systems much faster and safer. − − Hardware-based networks rapidly have evolved into software-defined networks, making computer networks much easier to manage and program. − − In daily operations, we take for granted the ability to navigate, search the Web, monitor and control operations, view reports, conference face-to-face in real time and snap photographs all with a single pocket-sized device that erupts with new capabilities several times each year.
In total, we have come to realize that what once was unthinkable and impractical may quickly become indispensable. The most current example of these expectations center on renewable energy, in all its forms. Electric-powered cars were a novelty just a decade ago. Now nearly every vehicle auto manufacturer offers a hybrid version, and more all-electric vehicles are on the roads. For businesses, the focus on renewables is sharpening in relation to powering their data centers. Led by initiatives from such hyper-scale tech giants as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, the movement toward renewables and alternative energy sources is gaining momentum. Owners are finding ways to power data centers reliably by solar, wind, geothermal sources, and biogas-based fuel cells. Often these renewable fuels provide a supplement for grid power, but increasingly new data centers are making renewables their primary power source and relying on the grid for times when demand is high but solar or wind power has dwindled.
What stands in the way of the most available renewables (solar and wind) from becoming full-fledged, fulltime power systems for data centers is the issue of storage. To be most effective, renewable energy systems should store excess energy that it generates for use at night, in the case of solar, or in times of calm winds. Long-term storage has been a challenge, however, and innovators continue to pursue the goal of more reliable, less expensive battery energy storage systems that can retain power over longer periods of time. A couple ongoing developments in this pursuit are encouraging. Fuel Cell Today, which reports on developments in fuel cell technology, has examined the potential use of fuel cells not only to create energy but also to store it. This reverse method involves feeding excess electricity that is generated by renewables into an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen then is stored and made available to fuel cells to generate electricity as required, releasing power to the grid. In this scenario in which renewable energy is used to produce hydrogen, a fuel cell can be considered a renewable energy source. The other interesting development is the recent announcement from Tesla that the company has transferred its advanced vehicle-battery technology to a battery that can power homes and businesses. The Tesla Powerwall is a wall-mounted lithium ion battery that charges either from solar panels on the building’s roof or from the grid at times when utility rates are lowest. In its initial form, Powerwall is designed to power homes in the evening and to provide a backup electricity supply. It enables home and business owners to avoid paying peak rates while making the power supply more resilient. Currently, a single Powerwall battery can provide 10kWh of energy, and as many as nine of them can be installed together to produce 90 kWh—a pittance compared to the needs of a data center. But, as with the technology that preceded it, this seemingly impractical device may indeed become indispensable before we know it. Like the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft that is flying around the world on solar power alone, an evolved Powerwall may be blazing a path to new, commercially viable technology as it quickly matures. Tesla reports it already is “working with utilities and other renewable power partners around the world to deploy storage on the grid to improve resiliency and cleanliness of the grid as a whole.” Elon Musk, the tech giant behind Tesla, also created the SpaceX system for sending men to orbit. Compared with NASA’s decades of experience, SpaceX initially seemed to be just a dream; but the company – despite a few failures – has successfully launched boosters and payloads that quickly made it a primary launch system for supplying the International Space Station. In just two more years, SpaceX will be attempting to launch men to the station as well. The lesson to be learned is not to underestimate the speed of innovation that has brought us to where we are and that is propelling us toward what we will become. In the case of data center power, the cost for solar power and other renewab-
2 Is renewable energy our next indispensable technology? | ABB article
les already are very close to the energy costs from the grid, due in part to government incentives. Once these systems are built, the power is minimal and limitless, so their annual total cost of ownership will continue to decline after they are placed in operation. Barriers remain, of course. Rooftop solar may be impractical because of the immense number of photovoltaic cells required to produce the power needed by data centers. But data center owners can contract for power from offsite solar farms through power purchase agreements (PPAs) or through renewable energy certificates (RECs) in the U.S. and renewable energy guarantees of origin (REGOs) in Europe. Limitations on available land may make wind impractical on some sites, but again the power produced by massive wind farms can be purchased directly. For now, the most viable method of increasing the role of renewables—a goal that responds to pressures from societal groups and governments—may be to employ microgrids. These platforms, such as those developed by ABB, integrate energy from many different resources--the grid, diesel generators and renewables—and rely on the most appropriate source at any given time to help reduce utility bills where grid power is expensive or unreliable. Among the technologies that they may incorporate are solar inverters, which convert direct current produced by solar modules into alternating current with efficiency topping 98 percent, along with flywheel-based generators and software to smooth out power fluctuations It is likely that we have not yet even envisioned the full potential of renewables to reduce costs, increase reliability and help data centers become more socially responsible. Eventually, however, we will be pleased to discover that this technology, too, has spoiled us, as we look toward an ever quickening pace of change and improvement.
For more information please contact: ABB Data Centers 12040 Regency Parkway Cary, NC 27518 Phone: +1 800 HELP 365 www.abb.com/datacenters www.abb.com
Note: We reserve the right to make technical changes or modify the contents of this document without prior notice. With regard to purchase orders, the agreed particulars shall prevail. ABB does not accept any responsibility whatsoever for potential errors or possible lack of information in this document. We reserve all rights in this document and in the subject matter and illustrations contained therein. Any reproduction, disclosure to third parties or utilization of its contents – in whole or in parts – is forbidden without prior written consent of ABB. © Copyright 2015 ABB Inc. All rights reserved.
9AAK10103A2962
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