The cloud is to become greener. To this end, T-Systems has launched a research project at the Biere data center in Saxony-Anhalt. Together with the Fraunhofer IFF, T-Systems experts are developing measures for more sustainability in the operation of data centers. The long-term goal: a data center that is self-sufficient thanks to an intelligent interplay of renewable generation, storage and flexible consumers. On the one hand, this reduces the load on the power grid. On the other hand, increased self-sufficiency strengthens the resilience of the data center.
Data centers are the heart of digitization. They form the core of the cloud. This means that the computing capacities, applications and storage that users can access at any time via their network come from large data centers. One of the most modern in Europe is the Telekom data center in Biere. Opened in 2014 and expanded in 2018, it already has a very good energy efficiency value of 1.3 PUE (Power Usage Efficiency). That is 30 percent less than conventional data centers. However, with increasing digitization, the power consumption of data centers will foreseeably rise. That’s why T-Systems is already looking for ways to reduce power consumption and CO2 production.
Data centers concentrate high energy requirements at a few locations. The impact of CO2 reduction measures and technologies is therefore potentially very high.