How to Manage Aging Electrical Power Equipment in Data Centers

­Data centers power the digital infrastructure that modern society relies on. For companies that depend on data centers to store, process, and transmit critical information, even a single outage can result in considerable financial losses, security vulnerabilities, and operational disruptions.

Data centers are also some of the most demanding, power-hungry facilities in industry, a trend that will continue with the amount of data exchange needed for artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs).

The aging electrical power equipment in many of today’s data centers can have a significant impact on reliability, efficiency, safety, and the cost to run operations. Managing and modernizing this equipment is instrumental to keeping data centers online. It’s important to establish maintenance programs that will bolster equipment life expectancy, reduce the chance of failure, and lower energy consumption (Figure 1).

The Importance of an Electrical Maintenance Program

There are several reasons to implement an electrical maintenance program (EMP) for your data center, not least of which are regulatory standards. With NFPA 70B: Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has long provided guidelines for maintaining electrical equipment to ensure safety, reliability, and efficiency. With the 2023 update, those guidelines have been reclassified from recommended practices to a formal standard, meaning they can be adopted into regulations and enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), local authorities, and industry certifications.

NFPA 70B language has changed from should to shall, meaning that if the standard is adopted into local regulations or required by insurers, compliance will be mandatory. Data centers must formalize their EMPs and track maintenance activities to ensure system reliability and worker safety.

OSHA is increasingly using NFPA 70B as a reference when evaluating electrical hazards and non-compliance in workplaces. Since the 2023 edition has become a standard, it carries more weight in compliance inspections and enforcement actions.

But of course, even without such mandates, there are practical and sustainability reasons for a conscientious EMP. In short, proper electrical maintenance keeps data centers online.

A good EMP can prevent overheated breaker components by ensuring that circuit breakers and related equipment are regularly inspected, tested, and maintained (Figure 2). Overheating in breakers is often caused by improper contact tension, corrosive contact points, and load imbalance — all of which can lead to reduced equipment life span, increased failures and reactive repairs, and higher energy consumption.

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Figure 2: A good electrical maintenance program can prevent overheated breaker components by ensuring that circuit breakers and related equipment are regularly inspected, tested, and maintained

Equipment failures not only cause downtime and disrupt operations, but there is also potential for serious accidents and hazards, including arc flash incidents. Reactive fixes reduce long-term reliability, weaken system integrity, and create long-term inefficiencies. Overreliance on backup power strains efficiency and raises environmental concerns.

Environmental Impacts of Backup Power and Unplanned Outages

When people think about sustainability, they’re often focused on preserving our planet’s natural resources and maintaining an ecological balance. But the ideas of conservation and balance can be applied just as readily to equipment maintenance.

For starters, well-maintained electrical equipment operates more efficiently, reducing energy loss and carbon footprint. In addition, unplanned power outages and the backup power needed in such events have big environmental repercussions.

For example, when a data center experiences an unplanned outage, backup diesel generators would kick in to maintain power. While these generators are essential for uptime, they also have environmental impacts — including air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution, and fuel consumption.

Large data centers could require multiple diesel generators, each consuming hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel per hour. If two 2 MW diesel generators handle a 2 MW power load (including redundancy), the amount of diesel fuel used could be 156 gallons per hour per generator at 50% load required.

By burning fossil fuels, diesel generators release pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), particulate matter, and carbon monoxide (CO) into the atmosphere, increasing the carbon footprint of a data center. Such generators are inefficient systems, with some emitting 2.5 times more CO₂ than the U.S. grid, including renewables (Figure 3). During a 100-hour outage at a data center, diesel generators could produce 316 metric tons of CO₂. That’s equal to the amount of CO₂ produced by 69 automobiles driven for a full year.

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Figure 3: Diesel generators emit 2.5x more CO₂ than the U.S. grid, including renewables

Remanufacturing and Its Place in a Circular Economy

Regular preventive maintenance in accordance with NFPA 70B improves energy efficiency and delays replacement. Eventually, though, aging equipment will reach its end of life and require replacement. Remanufacturing is an alternative to replacement that makes both environmental and economic sense. In most cases, it’s more economical to maintain, repair, and rebuild equipment than it is to replace it.

Remanufacturing returns used electrical equipment to like-new condition, and it’s a sustainable way to get more out of your equipment while using fewer natural and manufacturing resources. It keeps your used equipment out of landfills, and it also goes straight to a data center’s bottom line.

To remanufacture equipment, technicians and engineers examine the equipment to determine the steps necessary to return it to safe operating condition. The equipment is fully disassembled to ensure there are no mechanical or electrical issues before it is cleaned, lubricated, and fully restored. Worn or defective components are restored or replaced, and surfaces are replated and repainted.

Unlike our society’s typical linear economy, which places used equipment on a trash heap once it’s reached end of life, remanufacturing electrical equipment fits in well with circular economy principles by reducing waste, minimizing resource consumption, and lowering carbon footprints.

Electrical equipment contains copper, aluminum, rare earth metals, and plastics — all of which are resource-intensive to extract and manufacture. Extending the life span of equipment through remanufacturing reduces the demand for mining and production, lowering environmental impact. In fact, remanufacturing preserves nearly 100% of manufacturing resources.

There are other benefits to remanufacturing versus replacing your used equipment. For example, lead time can be significantly reduced, especially in industries where supply chain delays are common. For electrical equipment, supply chain shortages in everything from steel to semiconductors can have a meaningful impact on lead time. Because remanufacturing reuses existing components where possible, it does not have the same kind of impact on lead time. Local remanufacturers also bypass global supply chain delays.

Plus, because previously used equipment is coming back to the data center in refurbished condition, you already know that it fits in the existing footprint.

Safety Considerations for Electrical Equipment Maintenance

Keeping equipment in good condition and using arc flash safety solutions for potentially dangerous operations also protect your most important asset: your people. Put another way, neglecting maintenance means neglecting the safety of your workers. Proper maintenance of devices ensures their safe operation.

The Hierarchy of Controls (Figure 4), established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is a framework used to reduce or eliminate workplace hazards. In relation to electrical power equipment, the hierarchy shows the most effective ways to protect personnel from shock, arc flash, electrocution, and other electrical hazards.

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Figure 4: The Hierarchy of Controls, established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is a framework used to reduce or eliminate workplace hazards

There are five levels of the hierarchy — ranked from eliminating the hazard as most effective down to using personal protective equipment (PPE) as the least effective. Best practices combine multiple levels of the hierarchy.

One example of engineering controls to effectively isolate workers from electrical hazards (Level 3 of the hierarchy) is the use of remote racking and remote switching systems. They allow operating personnel to automatically insert, remove, and operate circuit breakers and switchgear from outside the arc flash boundary, minimizing worker exposure to arc flash, arc blast, and shock hazards.

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Figure 5: Remote racking and switching systems allow operating personnel to automatically insert, remove, and operate circuit breakers and switchgear from outside the arc flash boundary

NFPA 70E: Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace recommends that operators stand at least 10 feet away from energized switchgear to stay outside the arc flash boundary. Remote operation systems enable this by allowing operators to control a system from a safe distance via a wired or wireless remote control.

Your Plan for Electrical Power Equipment

Successful implementation of a plan for your data center’s aging electrical equipment requires a multi-pronged approach:

·      Maintain electrical power equipment to ensure compliance with standards, safety guidelines, and sustainability goals

·      Create and follow a documented maintenance plan, adjusting as needed

·      Remember that any unplanned outages will increase your carbon footprint, impacting sustainability and economic goals

·      Extend equipment life, support a circular economy, and reduce waste by pursuing remanufacturing

·      Ensure that proper safety measures are in place to protect workers from hazardous electrical equipment

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