“ What we see is that the market is going to move towards secondhand solutions . After all , why would you even waste that totally fine battery ? Why are we even recycling it ?”
DATA CENTRES
“ What we see is that the market is going to move towards secondhand solutions . After all , why would you even waste that totally fine battery ? Why are we even recycling it ?”
MUSTAFA DEMIRKOL VP OF DATA CENTRE SYSTEM , SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
associated costs ) of the site ' s manufacturing , transportation , installation and operations . In fact , over a typical UPS lifecycle , a VRLA cell would need to be replaced within the system at least twice in ten years .
" The weight of a Li-ion battery is onethird of a regular battery , but with the same backup time . So , when you reduce the weight by that much , you reduce the carbon dioxide emissions dramatically . Secondly , because the lifecycle of the batteries is much higher , this gives you significant operational advantages ," Demirkol explains .
" You don ' t have to perform operational shutdowns every three or four years , and you don ' t need to recycle the batteries every three or four years . So the cost of a battery was really high , but with the advancement of Li-ion batteries , it went down significantly ."
Alongside this , the energy consumption of a Li-ion battery is also considerably less .
" During its operational life , a Li-ion battery typically consumes less energy than a VRLA alternative because its internal chemistry makes for a slower self-discharge rate . As such , they do not need the same amount of recharging , and over its lifetime , a lead-acid battery will typically lose 0.2 % of its rated capacity , roughly double that of a Li-ion battery which typically loses only 0.1 %," Garner adds .
Implementing Li-ion batteries while prioritising lifecycle management However , data centres need to note that if they do decide to implement Li-ion batteries , this needs to be done in a way that successfully manages the full lifecycle of the technology . Namely , through a sustainable end-of-life strategy .
" As a mature battery technology , lead-acid cells are supported by a long-established recycling ecosystem designed to minimise waste and repurpose components . In fact , lead-acid batteries have a return for recycling rate of up to 99.3 %," Garner illustrates .
46 February 2023