How do computing power and electricity work together?

Energy storage can help solve the power consumption pain points of data centers by improving power supply stability and reducing energy consumption.

 

Feng Siyao told reporters that with the development of the AI ​​industry and the rise of data centers, my country has equipped energy storage systems in many important data centers and intelligent computing centers, especially in some areas with rich wind and solar resources. Wind power and photovoltaic power generation combined with energy storage systems have become a common configuration.

 

In order to ensure the proportion of renewable energy use in data centers, innovative mechanisms and policies combining data centers with energy storage, direct supply of green electricity, source grid load storage, etc. are also being implemented. Recently, the "Action Plan for High-Quality Development of New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other eight departments proposed to promote the configuration of new energy storage for users with high requirements for power supply reliability, power quality and large electricity consumption, such as data centers, intelligent computing centers, communication base stations, industrial parks, industrial and commercial enterprises, and highway service areas.

 

 

At present, many companies have combined green energy solutions such as photovoltaics and energy storage with the planning and construction of data centers to reduce the electricity cost of intelligent computing centers, improve energy utilization efficiency, and create a new engine for green computing power.

 

Chu Pan explained to reporters: "The traditional data center's solution for dealing with unplanned power outages is still to use the 'UPS (uninterruptible power supply) + diesel generator' method. UPS generally only needs to be configured for half an hour, and the remaining demand is provided by the traditional diesel generator system. This is still the lowest cost power supply solution."

 

It is generally believed in the industry that the demand for AI data centers is increasing, and the corresponding energy consumption will also increase. Enterprises can configure a certain proportion of energy storage systems for AI data centers to replace traditional UPS.

 

"For example, China Telecom Anhui's Zhisuan Center is equipped with a 25MW/200MWh (8 hours) energy storage system." Chu Pan said that the power consumption of AI data centers is relatively stable, and the number of utilization hours is high (generally more than 6,000 hours). If the comprehensive power supply cost of "new energy + energy storage" is lower than the traditional power supply method, large-scale storage of AI data centers will become a trend.