Data Centres and Renewable Energy Project
Storage Options
Most of the renewable energy sources available in the North of Scotland are intermittent, but the data centre demands a high, constant supply of energy. Some form of energy storage will have to be provided in order to even out the variations in power output.
Selected Options
- Hydroelectric pumped storage – flexible, capable of large scale and long-term storage, technology development is well funded because of potential applications to replacing fossil fuels for transport. Excess energy is used to electrolyse water to form hydrogen, which is stored as a compressed gas. At times of excess demand hydrogen is recombined with oxygen in a fuel cell to generate electricity. This is the only option for large scale, flexible sized, long-term storage needed to compensate for not just short-term but also interseasonal variations in wind and wave energy
- Biogas is a form of energy storage as well as a source, suitable to be used in combination with wind
Review of Options:
Further work:
Time constraints allowed only a limited investigation of storage. There are alternative possibilities and new developments in many of the general classes of storage options. Further work on comparing the effectiveness and economics of storage for data centre applications would be useful. Specific areas to look at include:
- Fast charge time batteries (1)
- Compressed air at medium scale (2)
- Flow batteries (2)
- New hydrogen storage such as carbon nanotubes or glass micro spheres (4)
References used in this page:
(1) Energy Resources and Policy Notes, MSc Renewable Energy and the Environment, Strathclyde University, 2010
(2) Boyle, G (ed): Renewable Energy, Oxford University Press & Open University, 2004
(3) Twidell, J; Weir, T: 2006: Renewable Energy Resources, 2nd ed, Taylor & Francis, pg 38
(4) Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association, Hydrogen Storage Fact Sheet No. 3, December 2006 www.shfca.org.uk accessed 12 April 2010
(5) Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association, Fuel Cells Fact Sheet No. 5, December 2006 www.shfca.org.uk accessed 12 April 2010
(6) Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells End Use Fact Sheet No. 6, December 2006 www.shfca.org.uk accessed 12 April 2010