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In the wave of digital and intelligent transformation, data centers, as core infrastructure, shoulder multiple tasks such as data storage and management, computing power production and supply. However, their increasingly complex and workloads tasks have also made them "energy consumers" with astonishing power consumption and high electricity costs. So, how much power does a data center use? How can we reduce costs and improve efficiency while ensuring reliable and efficient power supply? Beyond electricity, what about data center energy usage?
what about data center energy usage? As a typical power-intensive industry, datacenters urgently need to accelerate their transformation toward low-carbon and green development under the rigid constraints of global carbon neutrality goals. Large-scale use of clean energy is not only a key pathway to reduce energy costs and break free from fossil fuel dependence but also a core initiative to respond to global green initiatives.
The clean energy sources available for data centers include:
● Wind energy: Wind energy is converted into mechanical energy through wind turbines to drive generators for power generation. Data centers located in coastal, plateau and other areas with abundant wind resources can establish nearby wind farms or introduce nearby wind power based on the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) model.
● Photovoltaic: photovoltaic panels can convert light energy into electrical energy, providing zero-emission, pollution-free and sustainable clean power for data centers.
● Hydropower: The potential energy of water flow is used to drive turbines, which in turn drive generators. In particular, large hydropower stations with abundant water resources can meet the power demand of large data centers.
As an industry accounting for approximately 1.5% of global electricity consumption, data centers are grappling with an increasingly acute "power dilemma."
Wondering exactly how much power a data center use? The answer hinges on core variables such as its scale, IT equipment density, and cooling system efficiency.
● Small-scale data centers
Primarily designed to meet the basic data processing and storage needs of small businesses or institutions, these centers are compact with limited equipment. Their annual power consumption ranges from several hundred thousand to over a million kilowatt-hours.
● Medium-scale data centers
Capable of supporting the operations of medium-sized enterprises (e.g., bank branch outlets and EDC for small and medium-sized enterprises), these centers typically have a power capacity between 100 kilowatts and 1 megawatt. Their annual power consumption usually falls between millions and tens of millions of kilowatt-hours.
● Large-scale data centers
Serving major internet companies, financial institutions, and cloud service providers, these facilities are equipped with massive IT equipment, cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies, and other auxiliary systems. Their power capacity can exceed 1 megawatt, even reaching tens of megawatts, with annual power consumption potentially hitting billions of kilowatt-hours.
To crack the core challenges of data center energy usage, four strategic dimensions can be prioritized:
● Strengthen power infrastructure construction, such as expanding substation capacity and replacing high-current-carrying transmission lines, to reduce the risk of power supply interruptions.
● Introduce renewable energy sources such as wind, photovoltaic, and hydro power to bridge the gap between electricity supply and demand.
Phase out high-energy-consuming equipment and adopt servers, storage devices, and network equipment with high energy efficiency ratios and low power loss.
Introduce innovative cooling technologies such as liquid cooling and free cooling to replace traditional chilled water systems, reducing power consumption in the cooling process.
For data centers, particularly large-scale facilities with dense equipment configurations, it is essential to enhance the operational maintenance management system by cultivating specialized maintenance teams, deploying intelligent O&M tools, and developing and executing granular maintenance plans. This approach improves operational efficiency, enabling the timely detection and resolution of potential issues.
To address the challenge of excessively high energy consumption in data centers, it is necessary to create more efficient, intelligent, and green energy solutions for data centers to meet the energy-saving and carbon-reduction needs of the data center industry.
● Take Huawei Digital Power as an example. By integrating digital and power electronics technologies, it provides reliable, agile, sustainable data center facility solutions for data center operators and enterprise.
AI helps build green, simple, smart, and reliable power supply and distribution systems. In S-ECO mode, compared with the traditional UPS online mode, the UPS solution provided by Huawei Digital Power can achieve an efficiency of 99.1%, delivering higher energy efficiency..
● Smart Cooling
Cooling solutions that deliver ultimate energy saving, fast delivery, simple O&M, and reliability to build green DCs.
For example, the FusionCol8000-E, an indirect evaporative cooling solution extensively employed in medium and large data centers, is capable of maximizing the utilization of natural cold sources. It automatically regulates based on a dynamic awareness of outdoor temperature, humidity, and IT load, enabling precise cooling - on - demand, substantially reducing energy consumption, and facilitating intelligent energy conservation.
● Smart Management System
Through digital visualization, AI-driven energy efficiency optimization, automated O&M, and smart operations, it is possible to conduct energy efficiency diagnostics, accurately predict PUE, and increase resource utilization by over 20%.
● Smart Modular DC
Preferred choice for small- and medium-sized DCs, integrating power supply and distribution, cooling, rack, contained aisle, and monitoring systems to realize one DC per module
● Prefabricated Modular DC
For scenarios without buildings, fully prefabricated, modular, and pre-integrated design simplifying onsite installation and ensuring optimal TTM to build rock-solid DCs
Although the energy consumption characteristics of different data centers vary, as typical high-energy-consumption scenarios, the power challenges related to data center energy usage are not insurmountable. Through systematic strategies such as enhancing power supply flexibility, improving energy utilization efficiency, and deepening intelligent energy management and granular equipment operation and maintenance, the overall data center energy usage can be significantly reduced.
Energy consumption ratios in data centers are typically measured by PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), which is the ratio of total energy consumption to the energy consumption of IT equipment. This metric is used to evaluate data center energy efficiency.
The goal for a data center's PUE is to be as close to 1.0 as possible-a lower PUE value indicates higher energy efficiency and more environmentally friendly operations.
Energy-saving technologies for data centers span multiple dimensions, including hardware optimization, software management, energy architecture design, and green energy applications. For example, low-power chips combined with software optimization can reduce energy consumption of IT equipment. Additionally, introducing renewable energy sources helps optimize the energy structure and reduce reliance on traditional energy.
To effectively reduce data center energy consumption, measures can be taken by enhancing power supply capacity, optimizing energy efficiency—such as phasing out outdated equipment in a timely manner and introducing advanced cooling technologies—implementing energy management systems, and strengthening operational maintenance management.
