Mark Bramfitt - Utilities & IT

Moderating: Utility Incentive Panel at Technology Convergence Conference

A plug for the panel session that I'm moderating at Teledata's Technology Convergence Conference in Santa Clara on February 23rd...

I'll have a great set of panelists on the dais, including Lee Cooper from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Mary Medeiros McEnroe from Silicon Valley Power, and Derek Schwartz from the Green Data Center Alliance. (Derek is also moderating a panel later in the day.)

We'll be taking a swing at a couple of subject areas, including the marketing and outreach difficulties that utility programs have to overcome to have a successful energy efficiency program for data centers and IT infrastructure.

I expect we'll tease out some truisms about the utility market; here's one - municipal utilities like Silicon Valley Power may have more leeway to offer creative programs than investor-owned utilities subject to regulatory oversight (like PG&E).

 

Utility Facility Charges: A Primer

A question came in today from a consultant pursuing energy efficiency opportunities in IT - thought it a good policy to answer here in the blog so that others can access the information. Edited question:

"Assuming a data center is over built with regard to its electricity capacity, does the customer have to secure a fixed amount of power from the utility upfront and pay up for it even if it isn't used?  Or does the utility company charge you based upon a variable rate on the energy you have used?"

If you ask a utility to install a given amount of electric capacity, to what extent are you "on the hook" for it if you don't end up using it all? The answer is "to a large degree"!

Utilities make capital investments in the form of distribution (and sometimes transmission) capacity based on customer load projections. If those loads don't materialize, there are tariffs in place that allow the utility to bill for their costs of ownership of the facilities. This arrangement is typical for any commercial load of appreciable size, and takes effect if energy use is below a preset level.

A Diversion: The Environmental Highway

Permit, if you will, a minor off-topic diversion...

I carpooled down to Palo Alto last Thursday evening to attend another of the KC Mares-organized data center drink-ups, and on the drive back up 101 to San Francisco was struck by our ability to sense our environment even when cocooned in a modern car.

First, we were humming along in the fast lane (getting my mpg meter to tick up over 31 by degrees), when we smelled cigarette smoke in Redwood City. Yes, we were catching a whiff of the smoker in the car in front of us, which perhaps says as much about the declining smoking rates in California as anything else in that our sensitivity is so high. It wasn't that long ago that cigarette smoke was simply a background odor.

Next we were alongside San Francisco International, where the taxiways for the 19R and 19L runways are hard by the freeway. The smell of kerosene was so strong that we wondered whether it wouldn't be prudent to have the driver in front of us extinguish his smoke!

Last, and certainly best, we passed San Francisco's municipal waste transfer station, across from Candlestick Park (locals know which one is which). Instead of the expected fetid odor of household waste, we were greeted with the aroma of an alpine forest. There wasn't an outsized car air freshener hung on the building - they were grinding up Christmas trees!

Other than an interesting series of olfactory experiences, I suppose we should take away a sense of satisfaction that we have cleared up the emissions from vehicles so well that we can now smell what is along the roadside.

 

DCEP Course Coming to Silicon Valley alongside Green Grid

The Department of Energy is offering another Data Center Energy Practitioner training program and exam at the end of February in conjunction with the Green Grid's annual Technical Forum.

The one-day training takes place on February 28th with the exam the following morning. For this session, only the material and exam for a "Generalist" certificate is being presented - if you want to secure the HVAC-Specialist certificate, watch for other trainings in 2011.

Both events are being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. DCEP information is here; info on the Green Grid event is here.

Rethinking Self Generation for Data Centers

Just because I have had a long utility career doesn't mean that I am inherently against self-generation - in fact I have represented both sides of the opportunity, both promoting co-generation and trying to thwart it.

And I think utilities are now in that gray middle area, wondering if distributed and self-generation can be implemented to their benefit, and even be a business opportunity.

For data centers though, I have consistently minimized the applicability of self-generation for what I think are sound reasons.  Certainly, data centers (especially those without free-cooling) are an attractive load for generation, given an essentially unity load factor.  That means a capital investment in generation equipment can be recouped quickly.

But on the flip side, there is no opportunity to easily use reclaimed heat (absorption chilling, anyone?);utilities offer their lowest rates to large, high load profile customers; and the reliability of rotary generation equipment of any kind doesn't come close to what data centers are looking for.  (Even large-scale, sophisticated cogeneration systems typically require maintenance downtimes stretching into weeks per year).

Reading Now: Best Technology Writing 2010

I've been reading this book series for the past four years, and always find an engaging mix of articles regarding technology issues for the year.

This edition was no exception, though as the editor, Julian Dibbell, notes in his introduction, the essays are heavily weighted towards all things digital, despite his efforts to seek out writing on other technologies.

There are two articles that expressly deal with data centers: Douglas Fox's Thinking Machine (which I have commented on already), and Vanessa Grigoriadis' Do You Own Facebook? Or Does Facebook Own You?.

Ms. Grigoriadis touches on Facebook's server footprint, though she feels it pales in comparison to Microsoft's Quincy WA data center, for example. I'm not sure that is really accurate now that Facebook is commissioning their data center in Oregon, which has about the same load as Microsoft's center - about 40 MW.

In any event, if you're looking for a compendium of articles to keep you current across a variety of technologies, this series is an excellent place to start.