Peer 1 Hosting Data Centre

Power Need

Supply of a bespoke, standby diesel generator package for one of the UK's newest and greenest data centres, operated by PEER 1 Hosting, to ensure complete power continuity in the event of mains power failure.

The data centre features a wide range of energy-saving technologies, such as all year free air-cooling, heat recovery and lighting motion sensors to help reduce power consumption and achieve the PUE. It was, therefore, essential that any standby power solution could also meet the high requirements for optimum efficiency and performance.

Solutions

Working in conjunction with the main contractor for the design and build of the data centre, Finning supplied two Cat 3516BHD, 2500 kVA-rated, standby diesel gensets, together with two 26,050 litre structural fuel tanks; working to a tight, four-month timeframe from first contact to final commissioning.

The centre is built using a modular ‘POD' system, each with its own discrete electrical room to give customers flexibility in their use of space. There is one POD currently operational and a further three pods will be provisioned as capacity grows, which will require a further three Finning-supplied gensets.

The existing pair of generators is configured in an N+1 arrangement, with one set providing up to 2 MW of standby power and one acting as a swing unit, providing redundancy in case the primary unit fails.

The generator sets are also mounted on top of their own belly fuel tank, each providing 48 hours of capacity at full load. Each tank is supplied via a dedicated external fill point, also provided by Finning.The installation required a sound attenuated solution, with Finning installing floor-mounted, horizontal discharge attenuators to ensure that the generator sets operate at consistently-low noise levels.

A comprehensive exhaust system, with extension to discharge outside the building was also custom-designed to limit noise levels.

Results

Housed in Building 5000 within the Langstone Technology Park campus, the data centre should be one of the most energy-efficient of its kind in the UK. This design is expected to achieve a power usage effectiveness rating (PUE) of 1.1. The Infrastructure is already in place to eventually offer 10 MVA of available power and more than 5,000 square metres of available server racks.

Commenting on the success of the installation and the reasons for selecting the Finning system, Alan Shaw, Facilities Engineer at PEER 1 Hosting said, "We rely on high-performance Caterpillar power solutions at many of our data centres across the US and Canada. It was a logical process to approach Caterpillar's sole dealer in the UK to provide the mission-critical power for this new data centre located in Portsmouth.

"In addition, selecting Finning as our preferred supplier also meant we could benefit from its breadth of engineering expertise and the ability to develop a bespoke package that suited perfectly our requirements for high performance matched by low cost of ownership."