[Written on behalf of Vycon Technologies]
As demand for data centres increases so the requirement for power reliability, resilience and responsibility increases also. Power represents a major operational cost – the value of the global data centre power market increased by over 60% from US$17.45 bn in 2019 to US$ 28.44 bn in 2027 [Verified Market Research]. Power sourcing and consumption represents also the major source of the sector’s carbon emissions.
Balanced with sustainability responsibilities is the need to maintain resilience. According to the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023, 54% of those surveyed said their most recent significant, serious, or severe outage cost them more than $100,000. Nearly one in six (16%) said an outage cost them more than $1 million although the negative consequences of outages are usually far wider than just direct cost.
The requirement for uninterrupted power supply is the basis for the deployment of systems for powering the system until the genset kicks in. Batteries, traditionally lead-acid but more recently lithium-ion have played this role in data centres. Yet questions are being asked about the role of batteries on the basis of their reliability. It is estimated that 55% of unplanned outages and one in three UPS failures are due to battery malfunction or breakdown. This is made worse by declining performance across the life of the battery – the average VRLA battery lasts 5-6 years while other types such as SLA may last for only 2 to 3 years. Batteries need to be cooled, tested and maintained which adds to the initial purchase and installation costs. Batteries may therefore require an Energy Management System.
Fuel cells have built a media presence based on their deployment by major cloud and data centre players. They are not widely used largely because of cost, the lack of infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen and some environmental hesitation about sourcing the precious metals (platinum and iridium) required as catalysts.
There is therefore the need to move the thinking on energy storage away from the complexity of battery systems to the relative simplicity of mechanical options. This is where systems such as Vycon’s VDC flywheel energy storage solutions come in. These work by holding kinetic energy as a rotating mass which can be activated as and when required, thereby acting for a data centre as a battery-free UPS system.
Design innovation allows the VDC system to charge and discharge across a 20 year operational life and to offer 20 to 40 seconds of backup power.
There is a clear profile difference between high-quality flywheels, such as those manufactured and marketed by Vycon, and batteries.
In physical terms batteries require locations which offer sufficient space and which can support their weight. Flywheels require 50% to 75% less space than a battery bank and without the ground clearance requirements of some battery configurations, Flywheels can operate from 0 to 40 C. They present far fewer environmental hazards. Attention needs to be paid to battery recycling, disposal and the containment of the acid they contain.
Negligible maintenance requirements mean lower lifetime costs. Vycon estimates that its VDC system can save $200,000 over VRLA batteries through its life. It offers a ‘mean time before failure’ that is 20 times higher than a single string of batteries and 99.4% energy efficiency at 450 kW.
It can be set up in a number of configurations depending on the system in which it will be used. These can be customised:
> As a ride through to an emergency stand-by generator. According to the NEPA 99 regulations for emergency power systems gensets must be able to assume the load within 10 seconds and the Vycon VDC system enables this
> When paired with batteries to improve their longevity and service. This deployment is referred to as ‘battery hardening’ and is used where there is no genset or simply a preference for using batteries. In this configuration the Vycon VDC-XXT protects against power glitches, dips, sags and activates the energy to meet the 98% of glitches which last less than 10 seconds, thus saving the batteries for covering more extended outages.
> For the growing numbers of data centres which are sourcing energy from microgrids, the VDC and REGEN systems protect the quality of the power and REGEN offers the additional benefit that it can absorb and store energy that would otherwise be wasted.
Deployment flexibility is increased since the Vycon VDC Direct Connect UPS is compatible with all major brands of 3 phase UPS and this capability is certified by those brands. It can be used in conjunction with the three major types of UPS – online double conversion, line-interactive, and offline (standby and battery).
Vycon flywheels have been deployed successfully to protect power across a range of mission critical systems and facilities, These include data centres operated by web hosting companies, enterprise organisations in financial, healthcare and tertiary education services. The equipment protected by Vycon flywheels includes systems that can be defined as mission critical – imaging and surgical suites, labs, research and development facilities as well as databases of patient records in healthcare; studios and transmitters in TV and radio broadcasting; data centres, gaming machines and security in the online gaming industry and process controls and machine tools in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
The fact that Vycon flywheels can protect a key point of vulnerability in the provision of power to mission critical systems and facilities. Contrive Datum Insights estimates a CAGR of 8.3% for flywheel energy storage systems between 2023 and 2030 and a range of analyses indicate that data centres will be a major driver of this growth.