Independent data centers: fuel cells instead of electrical
This autumn, Microsoft announced plans to build a first data center that runs entirely on gas fuel cells. The pilot data center will be built in collaboration with McKinstry and Cummins in Seattle.
Other companies, in addition to Microsoft, also voiced the idea of creating data centers powered by fuel cells. In this material, we offer a look at the development of organizations and experiments in this area.
/ pxhere / CC
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Fuel cells are devices that convert the chemical energy of the supplied fuel into electrical energy. They are used to power cars, buildings, military equipment, space ships. Fuel cells are seen as a possible alternative to solar and wind energy due to the potentially low cost and low CO2 emissions.
In 2014, the data centers of the United States deployed fuel cells, the total capacity of which amounted to 100 megawatts. It is expected that by 2020 the local market will grow to $ 6 billion. The idea of companies experimenting with fuel cells is to connect mini-elements directly to the server racks. This approach reduces the need for electricity from the central power supply system, since the power is generated at the point of consumption.
Microsoft's research shows that connecting fuel cells to IT equipment will almost completely eliminate the classic power supply system, making it redundant.
/ Flickr / Robert Scoble / CC
The advantages of fuel cell-based data centers over traditional systems include:
The technology of gas fuel cells, according to Microsoft engineer Sean James, will allow the data centers of the future to disconnect from the power grid completely. However, the cells still need an external resource. Elements support power until the fuel supply stops. The fuel can be obtained from various combustible substances, such as natural gas, methane or even methanol.
Microsoft's gas fuel cell concept is based on years of experimentation by a corporation and other technology companies. In 2010, Google became the first customer of the fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy. The Bloom fuel cells on methane provided the corporation headquarters with energy. For one and a half years, they kept the level of availability within 98%.
Then fuel cells were adopted by organizations such as T-Systems, Fujitsu, Verizon, and Syracuse University. In 2012, Apple announced a private project based on fuel cells and launched it a year later. The system runs on methane. From 60 to 100% of the energy used by the data center is generated in it by biogas fuel cells and two solar panels.
In the same year, eBay, using the development of Bloom Energy, built the first of its kind in Salt Lake City. The fuel cells in it became the main source of energy and produced six megawatts out of eight. Natural gas was used as a fuel. In eBay, it was predicted that this would help reduce CO2 emissions by 49% and improve the availability of the data center in comparison with the classic design. The eBay company even agreed to sell the excess energy to the energy company Ormat Technologies.
/ Flickr / Bloom Energy Servers at eBay / CC
As you can see, Bloom Energy is featured in most major projects. To maintain its leadership status and reduce the amount of initial costs, in 2013 the company introduced a leasing program with the support of Bank of America.
Meanwhile, Microsoft was testing technology without Bloom - at the University of California, Irvine, and a test data center in Wyoming. The corporation proceeded systematically to implement the idea of a fuel cell for each rack. But the problem was the high cost of the project.
A grant from the government and the supplier of fuel cells Redox Power Systems helped to solve it. Another difficulty is that energy elements could not provide a sufficient level of power during unexpected bursts of server workloads. As a solution, it was proposed to use batteries to absorb peak loads.
In 2015, the Equinix provider began its experiments with the elements. This year, he announced the installation of fuel cells in twelve US data centers. This will be the largest project for the introduction of fuel cells in the data center system today. For the supply of cells again responsible Bloom Energy.
Not only in the United States resort to fuel cells. This year, the Irish data center announced that it was going to generate a quarter of the required electricity using gas fuel cells. Also, the German carmaker Daimler with partners told about the development of hydrogen fuel cells for data centers. Now these devices are mainly used to power cars.
Peter Gross (Peter Gross) from Bloom Energy believes that traditional electrical equipment for data centers is inefficient - its capacity is not fully utilized. Each system is loaded no more than half. At the same time, the cost of operating a gas system is lower than that of transmission systems. However, technology faces several obstacles.
For example, high capital costs. It is believed that the production of fuel cells is a niche business, which is why prices for data centers remain high. But if large players buy fuel cells in large quantities, competition will arise on the market. The state will begin to subsidize this industry, and the costs will eventually fall.
The US authorities have already been able to appreciate the benefits of technology during the recent hurricane Irma, which was raging in Florida. One of the distribution centers Walmart was de-energized . But its infrastructure was powered by a network of hydrogen fuel cells. This ensured an uninterrupted supply of food at a critical moment.
Another problem is the large amount of heat generated. The main by-products of fuel cells are water and heat with low gas content. For example, in the case of phosphoric acid fuel cells, some equipment does not even cope with high temperatures. On the other hand, the heat generated can be used and thereby increase the efficiency of the system.
PS A few more materials about the hardware from the 1cloud corporate blog:
Other companies, in addition to Microsoft, also voiced the idea of creating data centers powered by fuel cells. In this material, we offer a look at the development of organizations and experiments in this area.
/ pxhere / CC
')
Why do data centers have fuel cells
Fuel cells are devices that convert the chemical energy of the supplied fuel into electrical energy. They are used to power cars, buildings, military equipment, space ships. Fuel cells are seen as a possible alternative to solar and wind energy due to the potentially low cost and low CO2 emissions.
In 2014, the data centers of the United States deployed fuel cells, the total capacity of which amounted to 100 megawatts. It is expected that by 2020 the local market will grow to $ 6 billion. The idea of companies experimenting with fuel cells is to connect mini-elements directly to the server racks. This approach reduces the need for electricity from the central power supply system, since the power is generated at the point of consumption.
Microsoft's research shows that connecting fuel cells to IT equipment will almost completely eliminate the classic power supply system, making it redundant.
/ Flickr / Robert Scoble / CC
The advantages of fuel cell-based data centers over traditional systems include:
- Increased reliability - points of failure are limited to one server rack;
- Energy efficiency - the amount of energy lost in the process of generating the transmission and conversion of electricity, is significantly reduced;
- Data Center Unification - a fuel cell system can be deployed almost anywhere in the world;
- Energy savings on a national scale - now the share of data centers accounts for about 2% of the total US electricity consumption. The use of on-site generators will lower this bar.
Who uses fuel cells
The technology of gas fuel cells, according to Microsoft engineer Sean James, will allow the data centers of the future to disconnect from the power grid completely. However, the cells still need an external resource. Elements support power until the fuel supply stops. The fuel can be obtained from various combustible substances, such as natural gas, methane or even methanol.
Microsoft's gas fuel cell concept is based on years of experimentation by a corporation and other technology companies. In 2010, Google became the first customer of the fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy. The Bloom fuel cells on methane provided the corporation headquarters with energy. For one and a half years, they kept the level of availability within 98%.
Then fuel cells were adopted by organizations such as T-Systems, Fujitsu, Verizon, and Syracuse University. In 2012, Apple announced a private project based on fuel cells and launched it a year later. The system runs on methane. From 60 to 100% of the energy used by the data center is generated in it by biogas fuel cells and two solar panels.
In the same year, eBay, using the development of Bloom Energy, built the first of its kind in Salt Lake City. The fuel cells in it became the main source of energy and produced six megawatts out of eight. Natural gas was used as a fuel. In eBay, it was predicted that this would help reduce CO2 emissions by 49% and improve the availability of the data center in comparison with the classic design. The eBay company even agreed to sell the excess energy to the energy company Ormat Technologies.
/ Flickr / Bloom Energy Servers at eBay / CC
As you can see, Bloom Energy is featured in most major projects. To maintain its leadership status and reduce the amount of initial costs, in 2013 the company introduced a leasing program with the support of Bank of America.
Meanwhile, Microsoft was testing technology without Bloom - at the University of California, Irvine, and a test data center in Wyoming. The corporation proceeded systematically to implement the idea of a fuel cell for each rack. But the problem was the high cost of the project.
A grant from the government and the supplier of fuel cells Redox Power Systems helped to solve it. Another difficulty is that energy elements could not provide a sufficient level of power during unexpected bursts of server workloads. As a solution, it was proposed to use batteries to absorb peak loads.
In 2015, the Equinix provider began its experiments with the elements. This year, he announced the installation of fuel cells in twelve US data centers. This will be the largest project for the introduction of fuel cells in the data center system today. For the supply of cells again responsible Bloom Energy.
Not only in the United States resort to fuel cells. This year, the Irish data center announced that it was going to generate a quarter of the required electricity using gas fuel cells. Also, the German carmaker Daimler with partners told about the development of hydrogen fuel cells for data centers. Now these devices are mainly used to power cars.
Difficulty spreading technology
Peter Gross (Peter Gross) from Bloom Energy believes that traditional electrical equipment for data centers is inefficient - its capacity is not fully utilized. Each system is loaded no more than half. At the same time, the cost of operating a gas system is lower than that of transmission systems. However, technology faces several obstacles.
For example, high capital costs. It is believed that the production of fuel cells is a niche business, which is why prices for data centers remain high. But if large players buy fuel cells in large quantities, competition will arise on the market. The state will begin to subsidize this industry, and the costs will eventually fall.
The US authorities have already been able to appreciate the benefits of technology during the recent hurricane Irma, which was raging in Florida. One of the distribution centers Walmart was de-energized . But its infrastructure was powered by a network of hydrogen fuel cells. This ensured an uninterrupted supply of food at a critical moment.
Another problem is the large amount of heat generated. The main by-products of fuel cells are water and heat with low gas content. For example, in the case of phosphoric acid fuel cells, some equipment does not even cope with high temperatures. On the other hand, the heat generated can be used and thereby increase the efficiency of the system.
PS A few more materials about the hardware from the 1cloud corporate blog:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/342442/
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