DUBLIN & BERLIN
Integrated modular data center construction will bring capacity online at speed to meet growing global demand for AI and cloud computing
Standardized on-site power generation is key to accelerate the development of new data centers
Intelligent power management company Eaton, and Siemens Energy, one of the world’s leading energy technology companies, have announced a fast-track approach to building data centers with integrated onsite power. They will address urgent market needs by offering reliable grid-independent energy supplies and standardized modular systems to facilitate swift data center construction and deployment.
The collaboration will enable simultaneous construction of data centers and associated on-site power generation with grid connection and the integration of renewables to meet regional regulatory requirements, if required. This will provide data center owners and developers with choices they don’t have at present to enable them to build and run new data centers.
Siemens Energy’s modular and scalable power plant concept is tailored to the specific needs of data center operators. The standard configuration generates 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity, featuring highly efficient SGT-800 gas turbines, redundancy and additional battery storage systems, ensuring the highest reliability. Based on its modular approach, the size of the plant can be scaled up and down. In the future, it can also operate in a carbon-neutral manner, provided hydrogen is available and part of the data center’s sustainability strategy. The Siemens Energy concept also includes an optional emission-free clean air grid connection to be installed either during construction or as a retrofit. This feature would enable data centers to provide grid services.
Eaton will provide customers with electrical equipment such as medium voltage switchgear, low voltage switchgear, UPS, busways, structural support, racks and containment systems, engineering services and the software offerings needed to protect and enable IT loads from the medium-voltage grid to the chip and help accelerate building and commissioning data centers with skidded and modular designs.
Cyrille Brisson, global segment leader, Data Centers, Eaton, said: “Our approach of letting customers pick the right balance of energy sources is very flexible and construction to start-up time is swift with options to reduce emissions in both the short and long term. Crucially, our approach offers data center owners and developers the opportunity to build capacity and bring it online fast in any location where they have land available that is close to gas, water and fiber.”
Andreas Pistauer, global head of sales, Siemens Energy’s Gas Services Business Area, said: “We offer hyperscalers, co-locators and investors a unique package, enabling them to reduce the time-to-market by up to two years in many places which leads to significant revenue gains. Our power plant design is built with redundancy, eliminating the need for backup diesel generators, and reducing CO2 emissions by about 50 percent.”
