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Zero emissions data center cools servers with gravity-enabled sea water distribution
Technology Category
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Hybrid Cloud
Applicable Industries
- Telecommunications
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases
- Energy Management System
- Infrastructure Inspection
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Hardware Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Green Mountain, a data center located in Norway, aimed to establish itself as one of the most efficient data centers in the world with a Power Utilization Efficiency (PUE) rating of 1.2. The data center, co-developed by Smedvig, Ergogroup, and Lyse Energi, is located deep inside a mountain and abuts a cold water fjord. The challenge was to power the data center with cheap, reliable, low carbon hydropower and cool it with seawater from the nearby fjord, using gravity as a key factor in the distribution of that cold water to the data center. The goal was to build a zero emissions data center cooled by gravity-enabled sea water distribution and powered exclusively on renewable energies.
About The Customer
Green Mountain is a colocation data center located on the island of Rennesoy, near Stavanger, Norway. It is co-developed by Smedvig, a Norwegian shipping firm, Ergogroup, a leading Nordic IT services firm, and Lyse Energi, a Norwegian electric utility. The data center is unique as it is buried deep inside a mountain on the island and abuts a cold water fjord. The data center is situated in a former NATO munitions bunker, making it one of the most secure in the world. The data center has been operational since 2013 and has over 13,600 square meters of space distributed across six halls to support the critical uptime needs of colocation customers. The facility has been designed to scale to 25MW.
The Solution
Schneider Electric was chosen as one of the main designers and equipment suppliers for the Green Mountain data center. Schneider Electric installed data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools, control components, and about 12,000 measuring points. The hardware implementation included Symmetra MW UPSs, Canalis LV busway, Prisma LV Distribution, SM6 + transformers, MV/Citect Scada, Uniflair technical room coolers, and InfraStruxure hot aisle containment systems with in-row coolers and racks. Schneider Electric also helped design the cooling system that uses gravity to bring the cold water from the fjord to the data center’s cooling station. This is done without using any power and without relying on refrigerant gases.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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