Diesel free and green backup of power grid in DC

Operators are just starting to look closely at these technologies, their large-scale implementation will begin after 2020. Diesel generators are a problem. Their installation and maintenance are expensive, they pollute the atmosphere and produce a lot of noise. However, so far they have been an integral part of any data center that works around the clock. Data center operators are exploring two alternatives to diesel generators: gas fuel cells and batteries, with lithium-ion batteries being a particularly promising technology.

Not so long ago, Bloom Energy carried out a number of large fuel cell deployments commissioned by several data center operators, but most of them are an additional power supply system in the grid. In the meantime, one of them, the eBay Utah data center, uses Bloom fuel cells as its sole source of energy, relying on them instead of generators for backup.

Thanks to the successes of the electric vehicle industry in increasing energy density and lowering the cost of lithium-ion battery production, this technology is rapidly gaining popularity in data centers. Currently, lithium-ion batteries are used to replace lead-acid batteries in UPS systems, while their battery life is constantly increasing. It is possible that ultimately lithium-ion batteries will replace generators. The key indicator that any DC keeps track of is how much time you can get from a lithium-ion battery, which costs the same as a diesel generator. If two and a half years ago this duration was 90 minutes, now it is almost three hours.