Researchers Look at Wind, Sun, and the Cloud for Distributed Energy at Data Centers

In a recent white paper, Greenpeace International noted that data centers currently consume more than 3 percent of U.S. electricity, and about 1.5 percent to 2 percent of global electricity. With data center energy usage exploding exponentially—too fast for the legacy power grid to keep pace—switching to on-site, distributed power generation would seem to be the next step.

Now, a team of academic, and public - and private- sector researchers has convened at a university in Upstate New York to explore renewable energy sources for data centers—specifically wind power and solar generation.

 In New York State, data centers account for 3 percent of all electricity consumed, and demand in this sector is expected to double over the next five years.  The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is investing $300,000 in the project, which will leverage an additional $374,000 in private funds.

NYSERDA has partnered with Potsdam, New York-based Clarkson University; Palo Alto, California- based Advanced Micro Devices (AMD (News - Alert)) and Hewlitt-Packard (HP ); and other private businesses to demonstrate how a network of wind- and solar-powered data centers could create a new model for data center and renewable energy operations.  Because wind and solar-derived energy can be intermittent, this study will also examine critical questions of how to automatically shift a compute load between data centers and maintain reliability.

The program makes use of a distributed network of data centers to make this high-energy-demand technology more energy-efficient and cost-effective than current methods. If successful and deployed on a larger scale, this project could bring significant energy savings to an industry that can consume one megawatt of electricity at times of peak operation. That’s enough to power about a thousand average homes.

Clarkson engineers and students will be experimenting with the concept of managing data through a network of servers powered by clean energy, such as wind turbines or photovoltaic (solar electric) systems. Backers envision the creation of a clean-energy-driven Performance Optimized Data Center (POD) system that could be available on a large scale to serve any potential customer – colleges, hospitals, corporations, or any entity that requires data processing.

The distributed – or “cloud computing”—network is key to this project. For example, sites could be installed at wind turbine sites in Albany and Buffalo. If the wind is blowing in Buffalo, processing would be routed there. If Albany is generating more power, the processing would be routed there. Sending data over fiber-optic networks is far more energy efficient than moving power over transmission lines, even if the data are in another part of the country. And the distance would be invisible to the computer user doing the data processing.

Clarkson will be supported by business partners, including principal partners AMD and HP that will contribute equipment or expertise to the project.  Other companies taking part in the project include GE Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York ; Ioxus, Oneonta, New York ; AWS TruePower, Albany;  Vento Tek Inc.,a Clarkson University spinoff, also located in Potsdam; Timbre Inc. Potsdam; Intertek, Cortland, New York; WindE Systems, Yulee, Florida; and Ballard Power Systems Inc., Burnaby, B.C., Canada.

“One way for the New York economy to grow is for us to think about the way we use electricity more intelligently and efficiently to power business technology,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., President and CEO of NYSERDA. “NYSERDA is pleased to be supporting this project. We believe it can serve as a model for technology-based businesses and can help grow high-tech jobs in New York State.”

“Clarkson University is excited to lead this cutting-edge project on green data center computing,” said University President Tony Collins. “We are proud to bring together an interdisciplinary team of researchers and industry partners that will address challenges at the intersection of renewable energy, environmental and economic issues, related to the ever-increasing computational demands facing of our nation. Our goal is to create the knowledge, technology, and economic impetus that will lead to superior designs and to better investments. "

“AMD has a long history leading the battle against power consumption in the data center,” said Alan Lee, vice president for Research at AMD. “This significant project with HP, NYSERDA, and Clarkson University is a natural next step and will help researchers develop cleaner, more efficient and more cost-effective data centers that run on solar and wind power, which will clearly be needed to sustain the expected growth of public and private networks. Deploying this project in New York State is a natural choice because of its leadership in renewable energy and energy efficiency research.”

“Organizations are looking for ways to offset increasing power loads and energy costs,” said Glenn Keels, marketing director of HP’s Hyperscale Business Unit. “Together with NYSERDA, Clarkson’s research, and AMD, HP is developing power-saving strategies for the use of renewable resources and energy-efficient technology with monitoring capabilities, as featured in our HP POD portfolio, to create new models for clean-energy data center operations.”

In related news, last March, HP announced the opening of a state-of-the-art research facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, in which the company will advance sustainable data center technologies. The new facility will expand on HP’s Converged Infrastructure architecture by developing technologies to eliminate IT sprawl, increase energy efficiency, and reduce power consumption to help clients minimize their carbon footprint and reinvest cost savings into business innovation.

For more information, visit the NYSERDA website.