International. Recognized as the largest in Europe, the Lefdal mine data center, located in Norway, underwent a renovation to become a facility with the lowest carbon footprint on that continent.
The data center used ABB technologies to create the critical electrical infrastructures with which to supply clean energy to these 120,000 m2 facilities.
This lefdal mine data centre, whose energy supply depends exclusively on four glacial hydropower stations and two wind farms, with a combined capacity of over 300 MW, aims to become the largest and greenest in Europe.
ABB, in collaboration with Rittal, has been a partner from the beginning to provide tailor-made power supply solutions, as well as extensive knowledge and experience for such an ambitious engineering project. One of the most important aspects was to supply an electrical system that maintains reliability as the center grows (up to 200 MW from the current 10 MW) in different phases over the next three years.
To overcome these challenges, ABB has created a medium-voltage backbone network for the entire facility. In case of emergency situations, ABB also incorporates a decentralized UPS system (uninterruptible power supply), so each section of the data center has its own UPS installation. If a problem occurs in the grid, the UPS is activated in a matter of milliseconds to ensure a reliable power supply until the backup generators intervene.
The centre currently has 120,000 m2 of white space, much of which is in Rittal-supplied containers parked in the mine's former underground conduits. "ABB was one of the first to join the project, as it all starts with the electricity supply," explains Andreas Keiger, executive vice president of Rittal. "Transformers and generators are needed. So, given our good relationship, we started thinking about how we could involve ABB in the project."
Data centers are one of the most energy-consuming facilities. However, the Lefdal mine is incredibly energy efficient. In addition to its sustainable food sources, it uses cold water from a nearby fjord 565 meters deep as a coolant. The data center is located below sea level, eliminating the need for expensive high-capacity pumps to lift water from the fjord to the cooling system's heat exchangers. All this results in the data center cooling solution having an energy use efficiency or PUE (the industry standard for measuring energy efficiency) of between 1.08 and 1.15 per 5 kW rack, thus becoming one of the greenest data centers in the world with energy savings. This is 30% to 40% compared to conventional installations.
"Cooling is critical because of the huge amount of heat these servers generate. Thanks to the efficiency of water cooling, these server containers allow up to 50 kW of power, when you would normally expect between 7 and 8 kW with conventional air cooling," said Mats Andersson, marketing director of the Lefdal mine data center.
The Lefdal mine's data center has been in operation since May 2017 and is built 150 meters inside a mountain in what was once an underground olivine mining mine, also known as gem peridot, a high-density green mineral used in the production of steel. Located on the western coast of Norway, between Måløy and Nordfjordeid, these mountainous six-storey facilities set a new standard for the data centre sector.
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