A survey conducted by Appinio pollsters on behalf of Eon revealed that 72.5 percent find data centers in close proximity to residential areas more attractive if the waste heat is used for municipal heating networks. A total of 78 percent are in favor of data centers, energy suppliers and municipalities working closely together in the energy and heat transition. According to Eon, the survey, which was conducted with 1,000 participants each in Germany and the UK, is representative of people aged between 18 and 65.
Eon Energy Infrastructure is using this unsurprising result to promote itself as a digitalization partner and partner in the heating transition. "With a triad of local energy generation, intelligent waste heat recovery and integrated energy management, we are accelerating the commissioning of new data center projects while creating added value for society and noticeably reducing the burden on the energy system," says Marten Bunnemann, CEO of Eon Energy Infrastructure Solutions.
In a press release, the company refers to the EU Commission's intention to triple data center capacity in the EU over the next four to six years with its "Action Plan for the AI Continent". This will also significantly increase energy requirements. At the same time, data center operators are facing new regulatory requirements for energy efficiency and waste heat utilization. The time span from planning to commissioning of a data center will become the decisive key figure for corresponding projects in Europe, the report continues. Significantly reduced "time-to-power" In a white paper, Eon describes how this "critical time-to-power" can be reduced by years. The key to this is "integrated, modular solutions". When it comes to supplying energy to data centers, it is not a question of "grid supply or local generation", but rather an intelligent combination of both. Ideally, grid supply should cover between 30 and 60 percent of demand. This could be the starting point. An increase in electricity procurement from the grid, possibly with a reinforcement of the grid connection, could still take place later.
Eon is convinced that a solution for optimizing flexibility also includes an energy management system that controls the interaction of grid procurement, local generation and storage capacities on the cost side and at the same time reacts to price signals from the market under the premise of security of supply.
The white paper pays particular attention to heat generation and use, for example in absorption chillers or for feeding into low-temperature heat networks. The multi-use approach is in line with the requirements of the European Energy Efficiency Directive and turns data centers from pure energy customers into infrastructure partners.
The authors of the white paper point out that district heating systems require significantly higher temperatures than the 25 to 30 degrees typically found in the IT sector. Accordingly, heat pumps are required to raise the waste heat to a higher temperature level. These heat pumps require electrical power in addition to the already high demand of the data center.
However, due to the increasing power density of IT equipment, liquid-cooled racks will be indispensable in the near future. At around 60 degrees Celsius, these will emit significantly higher temperatures than air-cooled systems. At the same time, the authors point out that fifth-generation heating networks can operate with significantly lower input temperatures - below 45 degrees compared to the 80 to 120 degrees of conventional networks.
The white paper in English entitled "Energy Playbook for Data Centers" can be requested from the Eon website.
Author: Fritz Wilhelm |
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