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With this in mind Next Generation Data Limited negotiated with the Welsh Assembly Government in 2007 to acquire and convert a semiconductor plant near Newport in South Wales. This had originally been constructed by LG Electronics with government support in the 1990s but never used. The site provided everything we were looking for – a building well outside of London and busy urban areas, with a large amount of space, considerably lower rates and the kind of natural protection only an isolated location provides. In addition it had the distinct advantages of lower than average seasonal temperatures (for free air cooling) and a direct connection to the super grid via its own substation, ensuring a massive 180 MVA of resilient power supply. That’s enough to power a city the size of Bristol.

Having then spent 18 months upgrading and converting the exterior of the building into a tier 3 data centre including bomb proof glass and triple skinned walls, we knew an equally impressive blue chip interior fit out was essential to meet the highly discerning needs of customers such as BT and Logica. For this reason, the company appointed Schneider Electric as its primary supplier and partner for managing the critical power, cooling and cabling infrastructure.

Custom Energy Management System

Schneider Electric has uniquely designed NGD Europe’s energy management system. Data centres have historically used separate management systems to control building operations such as heating and lighting, alongside individual systems for the UPS, generators, air conditioning and cooling systems. NGD and Schneider decided to break with tradition and implement an industry first – bringing together the building management system, the electronic management system, the PDUs and SCADA monitoring.

This system provides Next Generation Data with the ability to closely monitor energy usage throughout the facility from the building management systems through to the IT devices themselves, highlighting any areas of concern where consumption is running at unexpected levels. This can then be addressed quickly and efficiently, ensuring an optimised energy environment for keeping costs and carbon emission as low as possible.

The advanced management system also provides a way for Next Generation to monitor the data centre without breaching confidentiality agreements. Once customers have signed contracts for the halls, no-one is allowed access. NGD installed its SCADA system through which a central server provides a virtual window into the data centre processes via a number of plasma screens. Authorised controllers can check on any data at any time, even down to each individual circuit within the building, ensuring all processes are running smoothly and any issues are quickly identified and dealt with.

NGD Europe also benefits from a remote monitoring web gate system. This allows users to connect to the data centre using the internet and an IP address. This effectively means the data centre can be monitored and controlled not only locally, but from anywhere in the world, offering 24/7 control and visibility.

Power and Cooling Considerations

Power, cooling and energy management are critical to overall resilience and uptime. Demand for power and cooling within data centres will continue with the steady increase in processor power producing the effect of increasing heat and thermal rise. More usage of high density server applications has also resulted in more intensive use of a given footprint resulting in a rise in energy consumption per square foot.

NGD Europe’s private 180 MVA distribution network is sourced directly from the metering breakers in a primary substation for the super grid which is located within a mile of the site. This maintains complete control of the entire power supply. The whole system is supported by intelligent power distribution units with monitoring done down to the circuit level that ensures IT devices as well as building management systems are performing at the optimum levels so as not to consume more power than necessary.

Almost unlimited power from 100 per cent renewable energy sources can be supplied to each rack in the data centre with N+N Uninterruptible Power Supply [UPS] resilience. NGD Europe remains the first data centre in Europe to commit wholeheartedly to powering a total data centre from renewables. Despite the efficiency of the building’s interior energy systems and our other green initiatives – currently enabling NGD Europe a PUE as low as 1.2 – it would have been somewhat of a contradiction to rely on fossil fuels as the original power source like most data centres. Therefore from the outset of the project it was decided to take the renewables route and we subsequently negotiated a long term supply agreement with SmartestEnergy, the UK’s largest purchaser of electricity from the independent generation sector.

Clearly, with cooling averaging 40 to 45 per cent of total operating costs for many data centres, the sustained rise in electricity charges has spurred the search for new alternatives and solutions. These include water and liquid cooling as well as nano-cooling technologies and others on the horizon that could ultimately require certain older facilities needing complete re-engineering.

The cooling systems has been tailored to meet NGD’s requirements. The key was to make the CRAC system as efficient as possible which has resulted in 56 remote temperature sensors being utilised around each hall and linked to the CRAC system through infrared monitors. These sensors identify hot and cold spots, and where the temperature is naturally cooler, the CRAC system automatically reduces its focus on that particular area and concentrates on the sections that are warmer.

As well as being the most energy intensive, cooling is perhaps the most critical system within a data centre. Aisle temperatures are regulated 24 hours and day, seven days a week to ensure servers are kept in optimum conditions. The cooling solution is directly in line with each customer requirement. This flexibility enables delivery of solutions from a standard 4kW rack moving up to 60kW per rack with resilience at a minimum of N+20%. Intelligent management systems also monitor each data hall and optimise the operating conditions and set points as per the environmental requirement.

Free air cooling is also deployed and enabled by channelling external air into the data halls to help cool the IT server racks. When outside ambient temperatures are sufficiently cool the electrically powered chiller systems are switched off completely or reduced, therefore cutting energy consumption significantly.         

Further Green Initiatives

In addition to ISO 14001 environmental certification, NGD Europe has achieved a BREEAM rating of Very Good. The widely recognised BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology.

Motion detectors and energy efficient lamps are deployed throughout the facility to ensure lighting is only utilised as and when absolutely necessary 

Various non-carbon sustainability initiatives are constantly being evaluated including biomass, wind, solar panels and fuel cells. 

By Nick Razey, co-founder and CEO of Next Generation Data Limited

• Posted on: 4th October 2011 at 12:00am
• Topics: Power & Cooling; Hosting; Energy Efficiency;