The true role of data centres in our digital future is becoming apparent, as environmental and commercial demands increase. Steven Carlini, Vice President of Innovation and Data Center, for Schneider Electric's Secure Power division explores the new trends set to impact the sector in 2024 and beyond.
As we look out into a future that appears to have more variables by the minute, making any kind of prediction is hard. However, there are two things that seem pretty certain, and those are that we will have to do more to combat climate change, and we will have to change the way we do, and support, business because of the increasing impact of artificial intelligence (AI).
Trends and Predictions to watch in 2024
The common thread between these two apparently divergent, but pressing, priorities is the unsung hero of our increasingly digital world: the data centre.
Data centres will not only be critical in supporting the digital tools and services that will allow us to implement the technologies to combat climate change in manufacturing, transportation, buildings and power generation industries , they will also be the foundation on which the next courses of the digital economy will be built, facilitating the adoption of AI in operations and service offerings.
COP pledges
Few could have failed to notice the noise and heat (no pun intended) generated from the recent COP28 summit. Many have expressed dismay that this is the 28th such conference on something that should have been comprehensively addressed by now, but I digress.
A key commitment made at this year's conference was reported by Reuters. The governments of 118 countries have pledged to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030, in a bid to reduce the use of fossil fuels in energy generation, thus drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated.
This is a massive undertaking, but one that is achievable, and one in which data centres, and other large energy users, can make a significant contribution.
In recent years, various trends have driven data centre designers and operators to develop their facilities to be more energy self-sufficient. This has sometimes been due to constrained energy supply, particularly in urban areas, and sometimes due to rising costs of connections. In fact, there is mounting evidence to suggest that planned developments that were viable just a couple of years ago, are being reconsidered due to stubbornly high interest rates and attendant costs.
Demand side management
All of these drivers have meant that many data centre designers and operators are moving more toward the capability of operating at a severely reduced demand side energy consumption rate, or being entirely self-sufficient for sustained periods. This can be achieved through various means, but sometimes it can be as simple as using a greener alternative to diesel in existing generators, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), but extending to full microgrid operation.
A key characteristic of microgrids is that they can operate either independently of a wider, national grid, or collaboratively with it and other microgrids. When operating collaboratively under an electricity trading scheme often governed by smart contracts, data centres can leverage their critical power infrastructure to provide grid balancing services which are essential when high levels of variable renewable energy (VER) sources are employed.
If the world is to achieve the tripling of RES used in grids globally, then the speed of incorporation of such sources will be ramped up significantly towards 2030. The digital management systems, such as DCIM, critical power infrastructure, and the ability to function as a microgrid with energy flows in both directions, will allow data centre designers, owners, and operators, to facilitate a an accelerated transition to renewables, and particularly VERs, that will see those ambitions achieved.
AI impact
The other major trend that is foreseeable, if not ful...
