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无市电保障的情况下如何建造数据中心How to build when the power isn’t there数据中心在无市电保障情况下达到零碳排放（CUE≈0)，我们需要思考从发电侧、配电侧、用户侧等全链路不同环节使用不同的技术方案——推进因地制宜，生态优先，集约节约，运营优化，绿色低碳的发展 September 15, 2023 By Peter Judge 公用电网往往无法在你需要的时候提供电力保障。数据中心正积极寻找替代方案。 All too often, utility grids can’t provide power when you need it. Data centers are increasingly looking at alternatives 在世界各地，数据中心运营商经常发现他们无法获得所需的电网电力。在这种情况下，如何构建数据中心？就是我们需要思考的问题 Around the world, data centers are often finding they can’t get access to the grid power they need. How do you build a data center in those circumstances? 近年来，新加坡、阿姆斯特丹和爱尔兰都柏林地区对新的数据中心项目实施了部分或全部禁令。这在一定程度上是由于担心数据中心不受控制的发展可能会使用过超量的能源，或者运营商无法购买足额的可再生能源用于消耗，以至于相关国家没有足够的可再生资源来帮助实现供暖和运输等行业的脱碳。 In recent years, Singapore, Amsterdam, and the Dublin area in Ireland have instituted partial or complete bans on new data center projects. This has been driven partly by fears that uncontrolled development of data centers may use excessive amounts of energy, or else operators will buy up so much renewable power, that not enough is left for the country to decarbonize sectors such as heating and transport. 在爱尔兰，数据中心使用大约10%的电力可用容量，数据中心运营方也优先购买可再生能源电力。2022年，爱尔兰公用事业监管委员会（CRU）宣布，在2028年之前，必须限制数据中心的建设，否则该国无法以足够快的速度建设可再生能源以满足其他行业需求，包括承诺实现电网脱碳，到2030年，该国80%的电力必须来自可再生能源。 In Ireland, data centers use around 10 percent of the available electricity, and they preferentially buy renewable power. In 2022, Ireland’s Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) announced that there must be limits to data center building until 2028, or the country could not build renewable capacity fast enough to meet other needs, including a commitment to decarbonize the grid so that 80 percent of the nation's electricity must come from renewable sources by 2030. 在新加坡，数据中心使用了7%的全国电力可用容量，而该国94%的电网由化石燃料供电，这可能会破坏该国脱碳的雄心。 In Singapore, data centers use seven percent of the available capacity, and potentially derail decarbonization ambitions because 94 percent of the country’s grid is powered by fossil fuels. 即使在这些地区之外，数据中心的电力需求也可能超过电网供应商在需要时提供能源的能力。在美国弗吉尼亚州，Dominion Power公司表示无法满足世界上最大的数据中心枢纽的数据中心电力需求，致使该项目推迟了数年，这震惊了整个行业。 Even outside these areas, the power demands of data centers are likely to exceed the grid providers’ ability to deliver energy when it is needed. In Virginia, Dominion Power shocked the industry by saying that it could not meet data center power demands in the world’s biggest data center hub, delaying projects by years. 与此同时，据报道，在伦敦西部，因为数据中心已经购买了所有可用的电力容量需求，故在2035年前禁止新的住房项目。 Meanwhile, in West London, it was reported that new housing projects could be banned till 2035, because data centers had bought up all the available connections.
美国建筑和工程公司Arcadis的任务关键设施负责人Jeff Gyzen今年在DCD小组会议上表示：“由于人工智能和机器学习的出现，对电力的需求呈指数级增长。” “There's an exponentially increasing demand for power due to the advent of AI and machine learning,” Jeff Gyzen, mission-critical facilities lead at the US architecture and engineering firm Arcadis, told a DCD panel this year. “现在，在一些热点地区，你可能需要三到五年的时间才能将电力输送到所需站点。这是一个大问题，因为数据中心等不及这个时间段。此外，电力成本也在增加，所以我们的成本超过了每千瓦时24美分。” “Right now at some of the hotspots, you can expect three to five years before power can be delivered to a site. That's a big problem, because data centers can't wait for that timeframe. In addition, the cost of the power is increasing too, so we're getting costs upwards of 24 cents per kilowatt hour.” 这是一个供应链问题，加州索诺玛州立大学（Sonoma State University）能源顾问兼教授Bob Salter说：“供需已经失衡” It’s a supply chain problem, says Bob Salter, an energy consultant and professor at Sonoma State University in California: “Supply and demand are out of whack.” Salter的家乡加利福尼亚州自引入“第24条款”能源法以来，一直致力于提高能源效率，以应对20世纪70年代的能源危机。他说，在某些方面，这种做法太有效了。 Salter’s home state of California has been aiming for energy efficiency since it brought in the “Title 24” energy code, in response to the 1970s energy crisis. In some ways that has worked too well, he says. “第24条款实施以来，我们停止了发电厂的建设。虽然加州今天的发电能力比20年前低，但通过可再生能源取代煤炭和核能，使美国的发电能力持平。 “The Title 24 approach was adopted, and we stopped building power plants. California generation capacity today is lower than it was 20 years ago, and US generating capacity is flat, with coal and nuclear being replaced with renewables.” 随着供暖和运输从化石燃料转向绿色电力的脱碳要求，预计未来20年全球电力需求将大幅增长50%。 Global demand for electric power is expected to grow by a massive 50 percent in the next 20 years, as heating and transport are decarbonized, by shifting from fossil fuel to green electricity. Salter说：“在这段时间内，数据中心预计将占全球电力总需求的3%-4%，而汽车电气化等项目正在加剧对电能的竞争。 “Data centers are expected to grow from three percent to four percent of total global power demand in that timeframe,” says Salter, “and things like vehicle electrification are increasing competition for electrical energy.” Salter说，问题很明显：“数据中心的建设周期需要1-2年，而电能的可用性不足3年。” The problem, he says, is plain: “A data center is a one to two-year build cycle and electrical energy availability is three years to none.”
数据中心往往需要高度集中的电力，在北弗吉尼亚州等地，输电线路在物理上很难接入，因此存在配电电力输配问题。 Data centers tend to demand high concentrations of power, in some places like Northern Virginia, where it's physically difficult to get the transmission lines in - so there's a distribution problem as well as a supply problem. Gyzen说：由于电力基础设施的退化，配电现在绝对是一个问题。因为建设配电网需要时间，我们无法将其送到需要的地方。这些输电线路和现有线路需要维修，尤其是在东海岸，那里的基础设施要旧得多，因此它基本上相当于一个不可靠的电网。” “Distribution is absolutely a problem right now because of the degrading electrical infrastructure,” says Gyzen. “We can't get it to where it’s needed because it takes time to build that distribution network. Those transmission lines and the existing lines are in need of repair, especially in the East Coast where that infrastructure is a lot older and so it essentially equates to an unreliable grid.” 不可靠的电网不仅仅是一种不便。这意味着数据中心仍然需要不间断电源UPS、电池和后备发电机，这些都加剧了基础设施的二氧化碳排放问题。 The unreliable grid is more than an inconvenience. It means that data centers still need UPSs, batteries, and generator backups, which compound the emissions problem of the facilities. 发电机需要定期测试，但更令人担忧的是，如果长时间停电成为常态（如加利福尼亚州已警告电力中断96小时），那么使用自身配套化石燃料发电的数据中心就会常态化。 The generators need testing regularly, but more concerningly, if extended outages become normal (California has warned of 96-hour breaks in power) then data centers using their own fossil fuel becomes normalized.  数据中心国际专家培训  ATD设计课程 AOS运维课程运维管理的直接目标是优秀的运维人员而非设备本身；全球权威的AOS运维管理专家课程将带您深刻理解运维管理的本质 ATS管理课程正确和系统地了解Tier分级体系会提升数据中心的项目投资回报、减少业务中断风险，ATS课程将全面带您学习Tier知识，帮助您有效提升企业的运营指标和内外部客户的满意度。 点击图片查看课程排期
扫码回复【uptime培训】了解课程详情 加利福尼亚州现在17%至20%的电力来自可再生能源，但它可以从现有的太阳能和风电场获得更多电力。 California now gets between 17 and 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, but it could get more from existing solar and wind farms. 它们在一天中的不同时间以“鸭型曲线”产生电力，这与实际需求曲线不匹配。这意味着加州还有5%的电力需求可以从可再生能源中获得，但由于需求不存在而被拒绝或弃电。 They produce power in a “duck curve” at different times of day that doesn’t match the curve of demand. This means there’s a further five percent of its power needs that California could get from renewables, but is rejected or “curtailed” because the demand isn’t there. Salter说：“我们存在弃电的问题，这降低了可用容量。我们正在建造非常大的电网规模的太阳能发电厂，因此弃电容量将增加。 “We have a curtailment issue, which reduces the usable capacity,” says Salter. “And we're building very large grid-scale solar plants, so that curtailment number is going to increase. “传统的后备系统根本无法解决问题。公共政策也不一定能帮助我们解决问题。” “Traditional backup systems really don't solve the problem at all. And public policy has not necessarily evolved in a manner that is going to help us solve our problems.” 弃电5%表明了一个简单的等式。5%大约是数据中心所需的总电力容量水平。如果这种电力可以储存起来，这可能是答案吗？ The five percent curtailed suggests a simple equation. It’s around the level of the total power needed by data centers. If that power could be stored, might that be the answer? Gyzen所在的电池储能系统（BESS）公司，在加利福尼亚州长滩安装了一个容量为400MWh的系统。这些措施可以减少供需不匹配的尖峰用电。 Gyzen has worked with battery energy storage systems (BESSes), installing a 400MWh capacity system in Long Beach, California. These can shave the peaks off the mismatch between supply and demand. “基本上，这有助于公用事业公司的调峰，”他说：“这可以使公用事业公司AES的两台发电机离线。这类技术开始在美国各地推广，以帮助利用这些可再生能源。” “Basically, it helped peak shaving for the utility,” he says: “It allowed the utility AES to take two of their generators offline. This type of technology is starting to spread across the US to assist in utilizing those renewable energy sources.” Gyzen表示，在解决整个问题（不仅仅是数据中心的需求）方面，弃电是“杯水车薪”，他说：“每一个点子都有帮助，必须有其他解决方案，我们需要一种多管齐下的方法来解决能源短缺问题。” Gyzen says curtailed power is “a drop in the bucket” in addressing the whole problem (not just data centers’ needs): “Every little bit helps, there’s got to be other solutions, and we need a multi-prong approach to solving the shortage of energy.” Salter表示，数据中心行业应该通过鼓励对该行业提供的所有电力选择持开放态度，可以帮助制定公共政策方面发挥作用。 Salter says the data center industry should step up to a role in helping shape public policy - by encouraging openness to all the power options that industry has to offer. 考虑到电力分配问题，数据中心行业还需要开始自己提供的电力——最好是现场电力供应。 Given the issues of supply and distribution, the sector also needs to start providing its own power, preferably on-site. 现场电力作为电网问题的后备电源。现场的微电网也可能使该设施摆脱当地公用事业公司的责任，在关键时刻减少电力需求。 Local power acts as backup for problems in the grid. A microgrid on site can also potentially take the facility off the local utility’s responsibility reducing demand at key moments. 最后，拥有本地发电设施可以为电网提供积极的支持，与电池或其他能源设施一起，在需要时也可向电网供电。 And finally, having local power generation can provide active support, with batteries or other energy sources providing power out onto the grid when needed.
任何现场发电都必须符合脱碳战略。除了电池储能系统，还有其他技术可以在数据中心发挥这一作用。没有一个是完美的方案。 Any onsite power will have to fit into decarbonization strategies. Alongside BESSes, there are other technologies that can play this role in data centers. None of them are perfect. “我们的解决方案库里有很多潜在的解决方案，所有这些技术解决方案都有路线图。其中一些是长期的，一些是短期的，我们将需要它们。我们需要着眼于近期，以及10年和20年后的未来。” “We've got a lot of potential tools in the toolbox, and there are roadmaps for all of them. Some of them are longer term, some are shorter term, and we're going to need them all. We need to be looking at the immediate future, and the future 10 and 20 years out.” Salter叹了一口气，继续说道：“如果我们10年前就这么做了，我们现在的处境就不一样了。 Salter continues, with a sigh: “If we had done that 10 years ago, we'd be in a different place right now.” 太阳能和风电场是一个显而易见的答案，大公司正忙于通过购电协议为电网的新容量提供资金。这种容量距离上很遥远，无法解决现场可靠电力的问题，而且考虑传统可再生能源来发挥这一作用也存在问题。 Solar power and wind farms are an obvious answer, and big players are busily funding new capacity on the grid through power purchase agreements. That capacity is remote, and doesn’t address the issue of reliable power on site - and there are problems with considering conventional renewables for this role. “生产200MW电力所需的占地面积是巨大的，” Salter说。他没有错。美国国家可再生能源实验室估计每兆瓦大约占地6-10英亩（译注：2.4-4.0万平米），考虑到太阳能可用性的变化，这个数字变化是非常不稳定的。一个200MW的太阳能发电场将覆盖几平方英里（1平方英里≈640英亩）。 “The surface area required to produce 200MW is huge,” says Salter. He is not wrong. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory reckons on about six to 10 acres per MW, a figure which is highly fluid, given changing solar energy availability. A 200MW solar farm would cover a couple of square miles. “我们在大都市地区附近建造多租户数据中心，以减少网络延时。” 索尔特Salter轻描淡写地说：“在这些地区不可能建立太阳能和风电场。” “We build multi-tenant data centers near metropolitan areas to reduce latency.” In something of an understatement, he says: “And it's tough to put solar and wind farms on-premises in those areas. You can't do it.” 但可以调整数据中心的位置，使其更靠近发电厂，或者改进通信技术以减少网络延时。“这也是技术解决方案库里的解决方案之一，”他说。 It’s possible to adjust the location of the data centers, putting them closer to transmission lines, or improving communications technology to mitigate the latency.“That's one of the solutions that's in the toolbox,” he says.
氢是一种可能方案，要么在涡轮机中燃烧，要么在燃料电池中消耗。有人提议建设氢能源发电厂，包括富达新能源公司（Fidelis New Energy）在西弗吉尼亚州提议的1GW园区。 Hydrogen is a possibility, either burnt in turbines, or consumed in fuel cells. There have been proposals for hydrogen-powered sites, including a 1GW campus proposed by Fidelis New Energy in West Virginia. Mountaineer GigaSystem公司使用现场电解设施中产生的氢气，通过燃料电池供电。 The Mountaineer GigaSystem would be powered by fuel cells, using hydrogen created in an onsite electrolysis facility. 除了像这样的大型项目，正如我们在补充文章的其他地方所解释的那样，输送氢气的基础设施仍在开发研究中。 Outside of megaprojects like this, as we explain elsewhere in this supplement, the infrastructure to deliver hydrogen is still being developed. Salter认为这不会很快发生：“从长远来看，为了实现可持续发展目标，我们可能不得不向氢能源转变，但这肯定不会在近期发生。” Salter doesn’t see it happening soon: “In the long run, in order to meet sustainability goals, we probably are going to have to have some shifts to hydrogen, but that's certainly not in the immediate future.” 同样，核电也是一个前景，由外围先驱者领导。绿色能源合作伙伴（GEP）计划使用美国首批商用小型模块化反应堆（SMR）之一，为弗吉尼亚州西南部较旧的Surry核电站旁边的多达30个数据中心的园区供电。 Likewise, nuclear power is a prospect, being led by outlying pioneers. Green Energy Partners (GEP) is planning to use one of the first commercial small modular reactors (SMRs) in the US to power a campus of up to 30 data centers next to the older Surry Nuclear Power Plant in southwestern Virginia. 这项计划需要很长时间才能实现。首批迁入的设施将从现有的核电网中获取电力，而GEP正在与几个提供SMR的新兴参与者之一达成协议，商用小型模块化反应堆（SMR）被认为比旧的巨型反应堆更实用。 This plan will take a long time to come off. The first facilities to move in will take power from the existing nuclear grid, while GEP works on a deal with one of several emerging players offering SMRs, which are supposed to be more practical than older giant-sized reactors. 绿色能源合作伙伴GEP表示，一旦投入运行，它将生产足够多的能源，并将以绿色氢气的形式分享部分盈余。 Once it is up and running, GEP says it will produce more than enough energy, and will share some of the surplus in the form of green hydrogen. 但众所周知，核电站在许可和建设方面进展缓慢。即使是较小的商用小型模块化反应堆SMRs也将面临障碍，因为它们尚未通过任何许可程序。 But nuclear power plants are notoriously slow to permit and build. Even the smaller SMRs will face hurdles, as they have not yet gone through any permitting processes. “核电将需要数年时间，”他说。“我们在30年前就开发了处理核废料问题的方法，但任何以核方式解决我们问题的途径都需很长时间。” “Nuclear power is going to take years,” he says. “We developed means of dealing with the waste issues 30 years ago, but there’s a long timeline for any path to nuclear solving our problems.”
Gyzen说，无论使用哪种能源，数据中心都会越来越多地摆脱电力束缚。在公用事业公司能够赶上所有这些需求之前，已经采取与电网隔离的行动。如果你做得对，它实际上对环境非常有益，有可能实现净零排放。 Whichever energy source they use, data centers will increasingly cut themselves loose, says Gyzen: “There's been a movement to isolate from the grid, until the utilities can catch up with all this demand. If you do it right, it’s actually extremely beneficial to the environment with the potential for net zero emissions. 他补充说：“坦率地说，即使不是现在延期获得电力，这实际上也是一个更好的解决方案。这是一个更环保的解决方案。而且这是一种更便宜的解决方案，因为可以节省电力成本。我们为什么不这样做呢。” “Quite frankly, even if there wasn't the delay in getting the power right now, this is actually a better solution. It's a greener solution. And it's a cheaper solution, because you're saving power costs. I just don't see why you wouldn't do it.” 翻译： 韩先会 DKV（DeepKnowledge Volunteer）计划成员 校对： Eric DKV（DeepKnowledge Volunteer）创始成员 公众号声明： |
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