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Over the last several years , the electric utility markets have seen significant changes in the mix of generation supporting the grid . In particular , traditional generating forms such as coal , nuclear , and even natural gas are being replaced by intermittent generation sources such as wind and solar . Because of the increasing penetration of these intermittent sources , and their lack of controlled dispatchability , other fast-acting energy sources are becoming even more valuable in balancing supply and demand . This is one reason why utilities are

Download whitepaper here increasingly providing financial incentives to their customers to more closely balance real-time supply and demand . Due to their generous capacity of underused UPS batteries , data centers are a prime candidate to take advantage of these incentives . In this paper , we describe approaches data center operators can use to monetize their UPS energy storage and explain the modes of UPS operation required for each method .

Introduction

Most data centers around the world use UPS with battery backup to condition incoming power and ride through power outages . Due to the highly missioncritical nature of these facilities , almost all of the major subsystems are fully redundant . This includes subsystems such as UPS , batteries , generators , and cooling . In fact , even during extreme conditions such as natural disasters , most such facilities can run autonomously for days . These subsystems include redundant UPS batteries that represent a significant amount of on-site energy storage . In almost all locations these overprovisioned battery systems sit idle for most of the year . By one estimate , worldwide annual data center energy consumption will reach over 1,000 TWh in 2020 , which we estimate to include about 22 GWh of battery energy storage . What if this idle storage capacity could generate revenue for a data center operator by helping regulate the electric utility grid ? In fact , over the last few years electric utilities have created a number of ancillary service programs that

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