DATA CENTRES
Schneider shares its insights into the sustainability impact – and the trends for future deployment – of Li-ion batteries in data centre UPS applications
WRITTEN BY : JOSEPHINE WALBANK
cross the board , the pursuit of sustainable energy solutions is rapidly increasing pace . But , for an industry that represents between 1-2 % of global electricity consumption , this search could not be more pressing .
Running in parallel to sustainability demands , the European energy crisis is forcing data centres – regardless of their attitudes towards sustainability – to place sustainable energy solutions among their top priorities .
" Customers are looking for highly energy efficient equipment . Energy efficiency used to be something ' nice ' to have , and customers were only looking at it for energy savings , in terms of monetary purposes ," explains Mustafa Demirkol , Vice President of Data Centre Systems at Schneider Electric .
" When the cost of energy is not that high , customers put this into a secondary , ' nice to have ' criteria . But , we are going through a serious energy crisis in Europe now , and nobody knows when it is going to be over ."
Due to the combination of these factors , two of the most prevalent industry trends are energy efficiency improvements and the deployment of lithium-ion ( Li-ion ) batteries .
" Batteries are a big part of the game . The market is moving more and more towards Li-ion batteries . Around five or ten years ago , it was questionable . But now , the market is pretty convinced ," Demirkol states .
datacentremagazine . com 43