Interesting snippet from a datacenterknowledge article on a data center powered by 100% wind power from an onsite turbine:
Microsoft has tapped into a major advantage of containers: they can easily be placed near renewable energy sources, allowing companies to chase green power to meet carbon reduction goals.
This made me think about recent projects trying to get approval for large transmission lines to bring renewable energy from less populated areas where renewable energy can be generated cost effectively (Good Article here from colorado). Some of these transmission lines are being planned through parks or other natural spaces and are creating controversy in that respect. It’s an interesting idea to locate data centers (whether containerized or otherwise) in areas to take advantage of these renewable power sources and to potentially limit the environmental damage required to build large transmission lines to pipe alternative energy around the country. These remote data centers still need access to fiber to pipe in and out the information they’re processing and storing, but perhaps that’s more efficient then redirecting renewable elsewhere. My gut reaction is that it would be.
Many developers have utilized the cheap electricity from plentiful hydro power in Eastern Washington State. They’ve moved large data centers to the area and have taken up a lot of that excess capacity, limiting the need to use transmission lines to pump that cheap hydro power to other parts of the country.
However, unlike hydro, the challenge with wind and solar is the variable output depending on conditions. Data centers provide a very consistent 24×7 load, so until more cost effective energy storage is developed this may be difficult to implement. But once it is, having a consistent load from data centers could be ideal for renewable energy with a storage buffer, rather than trying to service a highly variable (and less predictable) load.
Tags: Data Center, Renewable Energy
