With climate change accelerating, data centres face growing pressure. It is to curb their substantial energy use and transition to renewable power sources. However, how can data centres achieve 24/7 carbon-free electricity while ensuring resilient operations? Data centre microgrids have emerged as a promising solution. It enables data centres to leverage local renewable generation and storage. 

This article will dive into what microgrids are and their sustainability and reliability benefits. It will also show key enabling technologies, challenges to overcome, and the future outlook for widespread data centre microgrid adoption.

What are Data Centre Microgrids and Why Do Centres Need Them?

A data centre microgrid is a localized power grid. It can disconnect from the traditional utility grid and operate autonomously. Microgrids allow data centres to optimize and control on-site energy generation, storage, and consumption down to a building or campus level. 

They facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources. It includes solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells. Paired with batteries or other energy storage systems, microgrid-powered data centres can cost-effectively tap into clean energy. It can also ensure uninterrupted operations even during utility outages.

Data centres have an enormous appetite for electricity. It is with estimates putting the industry’s share of global energy usage at around 2-3% currently. This figure is predicted to reach 8% by 2030 as our data demands grow exponentially. However, keeping data centres online 24/7 means this energy thirst is unlikely to diminish. 

Additionally, pressures mount for data centres to curb emissions. This is as climate consciousness rises among customers, regulators, and the public. Microgrids present an opportunity. This is to reconcile these dueling needs for constant power availability and sustainability. 

Let’s analyze the advantages microgrids offer data centres striving to go green without compromising uptime or busting budgets.

Key Benefits of Microgrids for Data Centres

Microgrids offer data centres several advantages over relying solely on conventional utility connections. It shows why microgrids are the future of energy management:

Increased Adoption of Renewables

Microgrids allow data centres to maximize the use of on-site renewable energy. Solar panels, wind turbines, and other clean generation can directly power IT loads during periods of availability. As a result, it can reduce grid dependence. Whereas utility-scale renewable farms often require long-distance transmission, microgrids provide localized generation right where the data centre demand exists.

By strategically sizing renewable capacity and incorporating predictive weather data, microgrids can supply over 70-80% of a data centre’s annual energy consumption carbon-free. They turn intermittent solar and wind into highly reliable power sources for data centres. This is through intelligent forecasting algorithms and real-time microgrid management.

Uninterrupted Operations During Grid Failures  

Microgrids can be isolated from the main utility grid during wider disturbances and blackouts. Data centre facilities can thus continue operating even with the loss of the main grid. So, it provides mission-critical uptime assurance.

Switching to microgrid-only mode temporarily can also accommodate planned grid maintenance. This prevents disruption and downtime for data centre customers.

Reduced Energy Expenditures

In many cases, localized renewable generation from a microgrid costs less than traditional utility-supplied power. So, it creates energy savings. Utilizing solar power during peak daylight hours when time-of-use rates are highest is especially economical.  

Microgrids also minimize demand charges – penalty fees utilities levy for a site’s maximum electricity draw. By shaving peak loads through battery discharge, data centres flatten their demand profile. This is to cut these expensive demand fees.

Key Components of Data Centre Microgrids

Now that we know why microgrids are the future of energy management through the benefits above let us understand the core technologies that data centre microgrids leverage:

Local Renewable Generation

Solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, fuel cells, and other clean energy sources provide the foundational generation for a microgrid. Each data centre customizes the scale and mix of renewables. It helps to match its location, loads, and sustainability goals.

Onsite solar PV arrays have become popular given their falling price and modular scalability. More data centres also install vertically mounted wind turbines along periphery fences to harness wind energy.

Battery Energy Storage

Large megawatt-scale lithium-ion battery systems enable data centres. This is to store excess renewable energy and dispatch it precisely when required. Batteries also provide backup power for mission-critical IT systems during grid outages. 

Other advanced energy storage solutions like flywheels and compressed air can supplement batteries with high-power discharge capabilities. Thermal storage like chilled water tanks shifts cooling demand to off-peak periods. 

Efficient Backup Generators  

Some fossil fuel-based generation is still necessary for backup and emergencies. It is despite the maximization of renewables by data centre microgrids. However, with the minimal runtime required, emissions are low. This is why microgrids are sustainable.

Modern natural gas generators offer cleaner backup power than legacy diesel generators. Combined heat and power (CHP) systems allow waste heat recapture for absorption chilling and other uses.

Sophisticated Power Controls

Advanced energy management software and automation oversee the entire microgrid ecosystem. These controls optimize asset performance and coordinate demand with variable supply.

Machine learning algorithms continuously improve forecasting, dispatch, and distributed energy resource management. As a result, this enables high renewable utilization and uptime despite volatility answers why are microgrids sustainable. 

Hurdles Hampering Wider Microgrid Adoption 

While promising, data centre microgrids face barriers slowing their mainstream adoption in data centres:

Interconnection Challenges  

To create a behind-the-meter microgrid, data centres must obtain approval from their local utility. It should also comply with technical interconnection standards. This complex process differs across regions, deterring microgrid deployment.

Streamlining interconnection protocols through policy reform could accelerate microgrid rollout. Some states now even mandate expedited approval.

Matching Supply and Demand

The intermittent output profile of solar, wind, and other microgrid resources does not always correlate with data centres’ 24/7 critical load. Sophisticated techniques are required to align generation availability with power needs.

Investments in larger battery capacity, redundant generators, and IT load-shedding capabilities help increase microgrids’ flexibility. This is to bridge supply and demand gaps. 

Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities 

Microgrid communication networks and distributed control systems create potential cyberattack vectors. It could compromise data centre resilience. So, holistic cyber-physical security strategies must be implemented to harden microgrids.

Physical security must also be maintained when islanded since the microgrid becomes solely responsible for the continuity of operations. 

High Capital Costs

While substantial ongoing savings exist, data centre owners who are risk-averse hesitate due to the major upfront investment required in renewable plants, storage, advanced controllers, and backup generators for data centre microgrids, which come with a multi-million dollar price tag.

However, declining technology costs combined with financial incentives and innovative business models are improving ROI. Partnerships between data centres and energy companies also help fund microgrid development.

The Outlook for Data Centre Microgrids

Despite the challenges outlined above, data centre microgrid adoption is rapidly accelerating globally. This is due to heightening sustainability pressures and electricity grid instability. So, key drivers include:

• Continually decreasing costs of solar, wind, batteries, fuel cells, and microgrid control systems boost project feasibility.

• Supportive government incentives, policies, and utility programs focused on resilience and emissions reduction.

• Growing corporate commitments. Many global companies have pledged 100% renewable energy usage, mandating data centre microgrids.

• The increasing frequency of severe weather events and grid failures reinforces the value of self-sufficiency.

According to Navigant Research, global microgrid capacity will reach over 20.7 gigawatts by 2028, more than double today’s levels. Data centres will claim a major share of this growth as operators realize microgrids’ potential. It is to help achieve business, sustainability, and risk mitigation objectives.

The Bottom Line

Microgrid technology enables data centres to access reliable renewable energy. It also helps to operate sustainably even in the face of an unstable climate and aging grid infrastructure. By combining local solar, wind, storage, and advanced controls, data centres can cost-effectively future-proof their operations. This is while contributing to global decarbonization efforts. 

Despite facing near-term hurdles, data centre pressures are driving massive expansion in data centre microgrids. So, it renders the status quo untenable. Data centre owners and operators should actively assess microgrid options today to get ahead of the curve. Only by boldly embracing technologies like microgrids can the data centre industry cement its place as a driver of the 21st-century clean energy economy.

To learn more about data centre microgrids and other cutting-edge solutions to data centre sustainability challenges, attend the Net Zero Data Centre Summit on February 1-2, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Hear directly from industry pioneers and experts on the technologies and strategies enabling the net-zero data centres of the future.