Data Centres and Renewable Energy Project
Main factors influencing the choice of location
Below are the main factors to consider when planning the location of a data centre powered by renewable energy (1)
1. High speed fibre optic cable
This is the single most important consideration when locating a data centre; the constant ability to move data in and out of the facility with minimum disruption (low latency).
- It must be possible to connect in to a high speed data nearby.
- Two physical separate cables need to be connected to the facility; to mitigate any disruption of service if one of the cables becomes damaged the other is then able to ensure connectivity continues.
- The cable and its associated network must have the ability for its capacity to be upgraded as requested by the client or users.
2. Security
Physical and virtual security are equally as important.
- Physically the site must be free from any geological disturbances, such as on a flood plain or a tectonic plate boundary where volcanic activity and/or land movement occurs.
- Socially; the site must not be in an area of civil unrest or in an area where crime rates and unemployment are high.
- Politically; the country housing the facility should be stable with reduced risks of terrorism and extremism.
- Expansion; the site must be suitable for physically increasing the size of the facility, quickly if necessary.
- The site must be secure 24 hours a day; physically safety of the facility and its contents. People must be kept out, the facility needs protecting from intruders and fire protection.
- If either of the cables or the facility its self is compromised the service to its clients must remain uninterrupted. A back-up facility (often referred to as a Data Recovery DR site) (3) needs to be prepared and on standby in such a situation.
3. Power Supply
The renewable energy source needs to be able to match the constant demand required.
- A data centre has a constant power demand; electricity needs to be available 24 hours a day at a constant rate.
- Transmission from the energy source to the centre needs to be secure; transmission cables must be buried (which is expensive; around £185,000 per km (4)). To reduce the cost impact the facility needs to be as close as possible to the energy source.
- Green credentials; reducing CO2 emissions and attracting clients concerned with sustainable and renewable energies is seen as a positive benefit by data centre operators (5).
4. Skills and Employment
A suitable sized and skilled workforce must be within short, reachable distance of the facility, to support the data centre as well as the renewable energy facility.
- IT skills; server, network, security and storage management skills plus a working knowledge of the operating system employed (windows, unix, mainframe etc (6))
- Engineering services: electrical and mechanical contractors will be required to maintain the operation of the facility (3)
- A back up, on-call service will also need to be available, containing personal with IT and engineering skills.
5. Community Support
The local community needs to perceive the facility and its energy source as beneficial.
- The challenging nature of renewable energy, its intermittency and often burgeoning technology heightens the complexity of such a project and as a result the local community would needs to support its existence if it is to be successful.
- One of the ways of ensuring the local community supports such a venture is in the wider benefits it delivers; such as improved internet capability and services, local employment and business opportunities.
6. Access
- Travel Infrastructure; it must be possible for clients and operating company management to access the site relatively easily by road, rail or air. The site must be on a good two-way road capable of taking heavy lorries during construction.
7. Environment
- The physical location of renewable resources and/or the transmission path to the data centre needs to be clear of any areas of community value, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, or contentious land use. This would also be seen as a negative impact upon the surrounding community (7).
References used in this page:
1. Price Waterhouse Coopers 2007: Benchmarking Study on Iceland as a Location for Data Centre Activity, May.
2. Jim Mennie, Telecosse – personal communication
3. John Scally, Server Subject Matter Expert. Personal communication, 22 April 2010
4. Suppliers’ quotation for Small Scale Hydroelectric Project, MSc Project 2010, University of Strathclyde
5. http://www.google.com/corporate/green/datacenters/ accessed 8 May 2010
6. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/05/09/230618/opportunities-in-the-datacentre.htm accessed 7 May 2010
7. Lockerbie Data Centres - An Environment Statement (including a non-technical summary) http://www.lockerbiedatacentres.co.uk/downloads/ accessed 18 March 2010