数据处理中心。成功案例

PROJECT

Improving the energy efficiency of a data processing centre

SECTOR

CLIENT

Data processing centre

INFORMATION OF INTEREST

PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness)

Most relevant results:

Savings: €8,000 per year
Investment: €6,000
Return on investment: 9 months

Target achieved:

Optimising the energy consumption, up to a PUE of 1.4

"By monitoring the actual power consumed, it was possible to reduce the amount of power contracted in some centres, achieving an annual reduction of €2,000 in the electricity bill"

Initial situation

The data centre has 100 kW of installed power with €80,000 in annual energy costs. Its managers prioritised the energy efficiency of the installations in order to reduce the monthly average energy consumption down to 72,000 kWh.

The main energy costs came from the computer and air conditioning systems. Consumption was constant, as the data centre ran on a 24/7 operation. There was no energy consumption forecast or comparison with similar data centres. They wanted to find out their Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) value and compare it with that of other data centres, so they could determine their current level of efficiency, as well as the factors needing improvement in the installation.

Objectives

The main objective was to optimise the energy consumption of the centre to reduce costs.

This objective was subdivided as follows:

Finding out the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of the centre.
Comparing this PUE with that of similar centres to control whether the centre deviates from the average ratios or not.
Monitoring and controlling the electrical energy billing parameters: to simulate the electricity bill and draw up the cash flow forecasts.
Finding out the real consumption during different time periods, to contract the most appropriate company and tariff.

Solution

Of the total energy consumed in the DPC, 60% corresponds to the electrical consumption of the infrastructure and the remaining 40% to refrigeration. Therefore, one of the keys to the success of the energy improvement project was measuring the consumption of each unit type in order to be able to recognise the most affordable areas of improvement. Three steps were taken for this:

Measurement with CVM power analyzers, with their current transformers and RS485 serial communications to measure circulating energies.
Analysis with the PowerStudio SCADA application, calculating the PUE and displaying and preparing the corresponding reports.
Improvement in three areas, in accordance with the data gathered: reduction of contracted power, as it was found that the actual maximum power never exceeded the contracted power. Changes to room management by correctly controlling and adjusting room temperature. Lighting optimisation.

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