When it comes to the worldwide green energy transition, data centres are certainly part of the problem. However, they could also be a part of the solution.
Part of the problem
Data centres have attracted their share of controversy and negative attention for their power consumption.
Large data centres place enormous pressure on regional power grids. This has already driven some regional and national governments to freeze or outright ban construction. For example, the Irish government’s ban on connecting new data centres to Dublin’s electricity grid won’t end until 2028. Singapore and the Netherlands have also legislated to pause data centre construction. Both cited concerns over sustainability and the toll that multi-megawatt facilities take on their power grids.
Data centres were early adopters of green energy, and have been drivers of sustainable engineering practices for over a decade. The “green” data centre market was worth $49.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $140.3 billion by 2026. However, the overall consumption of the industry is still rising. It’s also expected to rise a great deal more, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that data centres, which consumed 460TWh in 2022, could use more than 1,000TWh by 2026. Responsibility for this explosion of demand can be largely laid at the feet of the ongoing AI boom.
High intensity workloads like artificial intelligence are accelerating the growth of data centre power demand, and the world may not be able to keep up. This is especially problematic as the global drive towards a green energy transition picks up steam.
“We have many grids around the world that cannot handle these AI [driven] workloads,” Hiral Patel, head of sustainable and thematic research at Barclays, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Going forward, she added that “data centre operators and tech companies will have to play a more active role in the grid.”
Power grids in crisis
One of the main problems faced by governments trying to restructure their energy mix is intermittent power generation. Wind and solar power can create abundant, cheap electricity. Not only that, but manufacturing wind and solar infrastructure is getting quicker and cheaper. As a result, large-scale engineering projects are increasingly putting more wind and solar energy into energy grids.
However, there’s a problem with these methods of electricity generation. Essentially, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun goes down (or behind a cloud), the power turns off. Battery technology also hasn’t evolved to a point where it’s practical (or possible, really) to store enough energy to tide the grid over when solar and wind fall short.
Currently, natural gas, coal, and other fossil fuels are used as a stopgap. These fuels are used to support energy grids when demand outstrips what renewables can supply. Nuclear is increasingly recognised as the best, cleanest source of consistent complementary power to support intermittent renewables. However, nuclear infrastructure takes a long time to build. Not only this, but regulation moves slowly. Most debilitatingly, nuclear power is still lumbered with an image problem—something the fossil fuel industry has worked hard to stoke over the past several decades.
Add an unsteady energy transition to the fact that the power grids in many developed and developing nations are ageing, poorly maintained, and overloaded, and you have a
In the meantime, data centres could offer part of the solution to power grids that lack resilience.
Data centres must take on “a more active role in the grid”
All data centres have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) of some sort. All critical infrastructure does, from hospitals to government buildings. It’s a fancy term for a backup generator.
If the grid fails, the UPS kicks in and can keep the lights (and servers) on until service is resumed. Data centre UPS systems are of special interest here because of the sheer volume of energy they can provide.
These facilities are equipped with a very large array of either lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries. This array will be sized to the IT load of the data centre, meaning a 500 MW facility is equipped with enough batteries to power your average town—for a while at least. Most data centres aren’t that big, but there are a lot of them.
Some experts argue that there are enough data centres (especially big ones) with enough power constantly being stored in high battery arrays that they have the capacity to return power to the grid, sharing the load when the system as a whole comes under strain. This substantial energy storage capacity is often underutilised.
“As the transition to renewable energy accelerates, maintaining a stable grid is paramount. Data centre operators can have a crucial role to play in grid balancing,” argues Michael Sagar of lead-acid battery manufacturer EnerSys. By feeding power back into the grid to support it in moments of overwhelming demand, he explains that “data centres can contribute to grid stability and potentially generate additional revenue.”
- Infrastructure & Cloud
- Sustainability Technology
