Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson, announced that it has cracked a major problem limiting the electrical load capacity and international competitiveness of UK data centres. Uniquely in the UK, all its big data centre customers can now draw power at ‘unity power factor' - typically extending the capacity of UK data centres by 20 percent. The news is particularly significant for UK data centres, which, under pressure to relocate to cheaper, rural sites, have been constrained by the availability of power supplies - a situation mitigated by new UPS systems, such as Chloride Trinergy, that get more active power from pre-existing mains capacity. "In the past, UPS manufacturers had to give big data centres the bad news that the power available for their racks was very much less than the capacity available from the AC incoming supply simply due to the installation of a UPS system. This is a huge limiting factor on capacity at UK data centres," said Rob Tanzer, technical support manager for the Chloride AC Power business of Emerson Network Power in the United Kingdom. "The good news is that advances in UPS technology mean that data centres can now get 20 percent more capacity from both existing mains supply and back up generators." All data centres use UPS (uninterruptible power supply) equipment, through which their entire critical power throughput is fed. This stores and conditions power so as to prevent computer equipment being brought offline or damaged by the 450,000 power fluctuations and failures detected monthly by Emerson Network Power. As a result, data centres that frequently run loads in excess of one megawatt, have turned to a new generation of efficient, modular equipment that dissipate a lesser fraction of the total supply under all operating conditions. "Managers and vendors have historically had to accept the limitations and additional cost of operating with a supply power factor that may be 0.8 PF or even less," said Tanzer. "UPS equipment still typically draws current with a significantly lagging power factor, which results in reduced overall system capacity and additional waste heat. This means that total mains apparent input power (kVA) is about twenty per cent more than the usable ‘active' or true power - kW - drawn by the UPS and supplied to the system load." "The ability of data centres to get 20 percent more capacity from existing mains power is a huge competitive boost to UK business. UPS that operates with a unity input power factor is an opportunity both to get more racks from a given incoming AC power source and to take advantage of the financial rewards for improved efficiency under the CRC energy efficiency scheme." Tanzer concluded. www.ChloridePower.com www.EmersonNetworkPower.com
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