The data centre sector has long relied on fast-track engineering, construction projects and working with the latest technology to keep pace with society’s increasing dependence on data and connectivity. Can innovation now help to improve how data centres integrate into our cities? Rob Jagtenberg, Senior Lead Engineer for Mission Critical Facilities at Haskoning, looks at past successes and future plans.
Sixteen years ago, I designed my first data centre. You might not recognise it as such today. It was almost 3MW – considered huge at the time – and housed in part of an office building. Now, data storage has been centralised and we are designing dedicated campuses delivering 30 to 60 megawatts or more from a single site.
There are benefits from centralisation – these new structures are more efficient, safe and reliable. Operational costs have come down, reducing the cost of data services for everyone. There are disadvantages too. People were less aware of data centres when they were just 10 racks in one room inside an office. Now most of these inefficient small sites have migrated to huge buildings containing corridors of racks with computers. It makes them much more visible and part of public and political debate.
We take connectivity and storage capacity for granted but forget that all this data needs power and needs to be stored somewhere.
Yes, definitely! It is something we pay close attention to together with our clients. It can already be seen in the architectural design. Visually dramatic buildings are overturning the ‘grey box’ tradition to create a positive addition to the built environment. The AM3/AM4 building in Science Park Amsterdam is a case in point. It has been designed so that when it reaches the end of its life as a data centre, it can be converted easily into housing. In Germany, cities require green facades for data centres, seen in our recent projects in Munich and Frankfurt. The external façade of the data centre blends into the cityscape with greenery from top to bottom. In addition, the data centre is powered with 100% renewable energy and features highly efficient operations.
In general, data centres are best placed at the hot spots of connectivity, where the economy and grid Voltage are stable, security is easy to implement, there is sufficient expertise for construction and maintenance, little corruption, a stable and predictable political situation and where cooling is not too difficult. This makes Western Europe very attractive. However, in view of the increasing pressures on our cities, I believe there should in future be more consideration as to which services really need to be located in city centres.
Some activities which bring value to society do need ultra-fast access but for storage and activities in the cloud, access speed is less critical. To address this point, we need to have open conversations and more transparency in the digital economy as to which types of activities we are willing to accommodate and support in our cities.
One of the problems faced by data centres we are building in some places in Africa is the unreliability of the grid power which can lead to emergency power generators running for 18 hours a day. Based on the fuel cost alone, this is a difficult business case, quite apart from emissions and maintenance.