COUNTRY FOCUS: NETHERLANDS
The data centre
industry is continuing
to explore innovative
ways to reduce its carbon
footprint amid pressure
from various authorities.
Robbert Hoeffnagel of Green
IT Amsterdam, talks us through
the findings of an energy storage
project which took place at the
Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam
and the implications of this for
the future of data centres.
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Energy storage project offers
potential for data centres
Content supplied
by the DCA
T
he European EV-Energy project is
working hard to map and promote
legislation and regulations of local and
provincial governments that can accelerate
what is officially called ‘decarbonisation of
the energy and mobility sector’.
This also affects the integration of data
centres and smart grids.
A project on battery storage at the Johan
Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam shows how this
can be achieved in practice and the benefits
that this can bring.
Last summer, the Johan Cruyff Arena in
Amsterdam officially launched a battery
system for storing electrical energy.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
This opening followed an earlier project
carried out by the stadium where a large
part of the roof was filled with solar panels.
Generating energy through solar panels is
interesting – especially if this energy can
also be used immediately. For the arena,
however, many of the activities that take
place there are planned in the evening
hours. Storage of the energy generated by
solar panels in batteries was therefore an
important next step.
61 racks of batteries
It is therefore logical that last year’s opening
of a hall with 61 racks full of batteries has
already received some significant attention.
We are now more than six months further
in and it is becoming increasingly clear how
important this project is – especially for the
data centre industry.
This project is not only about storing
energy in batteries.
In order to justify the relatively high costs
of batteries, we need to develop a business
case that is as broadly defined as possible.
In other words: the batteries should be used
in as many ways as possible so that the
investments can be recouped. That is precisely
the phenomenon that makes this project very
relevant for data centres, which are now also
discussing the possibilities that arise from
integrating batteries and UPS systems with
the energy networks of grid operators.
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