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DC with Solar PV
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DC with Solar PV

Any data centers in Europe with solar PV panels on the building?

Comments

  • @solarman would you like your services to work only during the day? If there are datacenters with solar panels, the panels are there mostly for PR. Or to take some free EU money.

  • @rds100 said:
    solarman would you like your services to work only during the day?

    Sorry I have no food today for you

  • But but but but.. WHY? I'm such a nice troll ;-)

    Thanked by 1dnwk
  • @rds100 said:
    solarman would you like your services to work only during the day? If there are datacenters with solar panels, the panels are there mostly for PR.

    Like this one...

    http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/blogs/mark-monroe/solar-data-center-not-largely-solar-powered

    Thanked by 1solarman
  • Nice to see another Greenie ;}

    • Thor DC, Iceland (thermal energy/100%renewable)
    • Turnkey, New York (hydro, solar)
    • EDIS Graz, Austria (hydro)
  • Then we should also add - OVH, France - Nuclear (even greener than hydro and solar)

    Thanked by 1gbshouse
  • @rds100 said:
    Then we should also add - OVH, France - Nuclear (even greener than hydro and solar)

    Not just green, it also gives you a nice glow.

  • That's a good article we had two sites with AISO but they were to expensive for even our very eco minded green customers.

  • @Node said:
    Nice to see another Greenie ;}

    Thanks not easy sometimes :)

    • Thor DC, Iceland (thermal energy/100%renewable)

    Looks like that is where it's at and EDIS seem to be the only ones worth going with

    • Turnkey, New York (hydro, solar)

    Not so good http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1293275&highlight=Turnkey

    • EDIS Graz, Austria (hydro)

    Any links to Graz to see how green it is (I'm a bit long in the tooth for the green washing)

  • @rds100 said:
    solarman would you like your services to work only during the day?

    I guess this was a joke; solar power is typically stored in batteries for long-term use, and power sources are typically diversified so that solar/hydro/whatever aren't solely relied on.

  • rds100rds100 Member
    edited October 2013

    @amhoab of course it was a joke. But keep in mind that batteries are usually not "green" at all. Also even if you make the entire roof of the data center one big solar panel, the power generated would be only a small portion of the power needed by the typical data center.

  • pcanpcan Member
    edited October 2013

    @rds said: even if you make the entire roof of the data center one big solar panel, the power generated would be only a small portion of the power needed by the typical data center.

    This could be true on many installations, but don't underestimate the power efficiency of a couple hundreds solar panels. I am now looking at the meter of the solar generator installed on the roof of a medium sized industrial shed: it shows 2 Mw (2 million watts). The absolute peek is near 3 Mw. There is no battery for storage; the plant is linked on the main grid and the power company will supply hydro generated power when the solar power plant is off.

  • @pcan the sun delivers less 1000W per square meter to the surface of the Earth, and this is at peak time. Typical PV panel efficiency is 15-20%, so you get 150W - 200W per square meter peak power.
    A typical lower density rack uses 2kW and takes less than 1 square meter.
    Some data centers offers racks with 4, 6 or more kW per rack.

    So do the math yourself :) Only the sun (without batteries) is not enough to power a data center even for 1 hour at noon, unless it's a very sparsely populated data center.

  • The solar plant will obviously have a bigger footprint than the server room. Back to your example, we can roughly assume that the solar field i described will output 2 MW for 6 hours/day. On average, it is enough to power 250 racks @ 2 kW each.
    It's true that solar is a bad match for a datacenter, because the solar output is intermittent while the datacenter power comsumption is constant. It can only work with a energy storage system. Hydro is a way better match.

  • Data "Shack" possibly the same two.

  • hbjlee17hbjlee17 Member, Host Rep

    efficiency does not increase with the number of solar panels connected :x

    Thanked by 1perennate
  • I have to admit I am renewable professional.
    And play around with VPSs for fun :)

    This is a nice tool for learning how much power you will get from PV
    http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php Have fun

  • @Node

    EDIS are in Vienna now, not Graz?

  • @rds100 said:
    Then we should also add - OVH, France - Nuclear (even greener than hydro and solar)

    Actually, uranium is more a silvery-white colour.

  • GunterGunter Member
    edited October 2013

    OVH BHS has hydro as one of their main power sources.

    In fact, its pretty close to the plant in question.

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