![]() ![]() Data companies are huge consumers of electricity. “One of the cooler elements of this is the complete reversal in business models. The company’s latest move into grid services could wield similar influence if it grows beyond the pilot. That demand has allowed companies such as Google to shape markets the tech giant has already joined the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Southwest Power Pool. Models suggest that data centers account for about 1 percent of global electricity use, and more companies are working to power them with renewables. None of these applications has become widespread.Īll the while, large tech companies have become some of the biggest buyers of clean energy in the world. Microsoft has dabbled in batteries, and more recently, green hydrogen to provide backup at its data centers. The company dissolved in 2014.īloom Energy fuel cells have supplied customers such as Apple. In 2011, Greentech Media reported on a partnership between utility Dominion and Power Assure, an energy management software startup that planned to use data centers as grid assets to bolster efficiency. The push to use data center backup power systems as vessels for grid services contracts has been around for at least a decade. Data center backup power for grid services: A long road to realization “If the Googles, Microsofts and Amazons of the world are willing to pay a premium cleaner backup generation, then it may well accelerate the uptake of storage by providing one more layer to drive the economics into the black,” said Dan Finn-Foley. But this announcement is more about potential value creation than upside for the battery market, said Dan Finn-Foley, head of energy storage at consultancy Wood Mackenzie. ![]() If those users switch data center backup to batteries, it could drive some storage demand. Currently, data centers account for about 20 gigawatts of diesel generators deployed around the globe, Google estimates (the tech company declined to quantify its share of that total). Generators sit beside data centers across the world, ready to keep them running in case of electricity outages. Batteries are cost-competitive today… there is an economic incentive for customers such as us… to become active participants in the grid.” “We want to demonstrate that there is a business case. “This is really not a technology pilot this is really more of an operational pilot,” said Texier. In addition to providing clean backup, batteries also have the potential to bring back value, said Maud Texier, Google’s lead for carbon-free energy. The battery installation is designed to help Google on its quest to meet round-the-clock electricity demand with carbon-free sources by 2030. Google has matched its overall electricity consumption with 100 percent renewable energy purchases since 2017. Google is already experimenting with load-shifting on a pilot scale. The 3-megawatt, 2-hour-duration battery will be installed at a Google data center in Belgium, a location selected because its market has policies that allow batteries to provide frequency regulation to the grid. Google on Wednesday unveiled plans to install its first backup battery at a data center, with ambitions to use the project as a test case for grid service applications.
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