Schneider Electric shows strong commitment to highly efficient and sustainable data centers

The global data center landscape is changing—new technologies enabling higher efficiency and sustainability are becoming a must from planning to operations. This was epitomized at a recent meeting we had with Schneider Electric at their Innovation Executive Briefing Center in St. Louis, MO. In this brief note we discuss our main takeaways.

We’ve observed key vendors and their performance for over a decade and have seen emphasis placed on more energy efficient and sustainable data centers, contributing to reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water consumption, and waste generated among many sustainability goals. Schneider Electric has excelled in this mission by investing in a long-term sustainability strategy.

Planning is a key point for a reliable, efficient and sustainable data center project. In the design phase, Schneider Electric is incorporating various modelling and simulation tools, such as EcoStruxure and ETAP for design, simulation, monitoring, and automating power systems.

In the construction phase, they have demonstrated innovation through expanding their offering of prefabricated modular data centers, with benefits such as standardization; scalability; fast-track deployments of pre-assembled, pre-tested and pre-commissioned modules; right-sizing with less unused capacity; and lower GHG emissions, water consumed, and waste generated.

Further observations of Schneider Electric show their main innovations in the UPS space, comprising more efficient architectures and components, modes of operation like the eConversion mode, higher capacity, modularity, smarter and connected, intelligent monitoring, analytics, and smaller footprint. New battery chemistries for energy storage systems continue to be explored beyond the well-known lead acid technology and the recently adopted Lithium-based batteries. The offer also includes grid interactive UPS with bidirectional capabilities to enable interaction with the electric grid, energy demand management and grid support.

Data center stakeholders need to understand the benefits and implications of the different options to integrate renewable energy into their power portfolio, as well as the roadmap to achieve it in the pursuit of even more sustainable data centers. Services to integrate renewable energy resources are also offered.

Last but not least, data centers must be managed and operated in an efficient, effective and sustainable way. Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure software helps modernize the way IT and data center stakeholders monitor, manage, optimize and report on their facilities, incorporating new analytics and dashboards. Capabilities to integrate distributed energy resources or microgrids are available. Sustainability reporting is also part of the platform enabling a better understanding of scopes 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions.

Next gen up next

Next generation data centers need to be optimized against multiple objectives, including reliability, energy efficiency, operations, and sustainability. Currently, Schneider Electric is leading the way by investing in building the services, software tools and hardware innovation to be a go-to source for companies designing, building, and operating data centers. They are able to offer end-to-end power infrastructure solutions which can be a cost-effective option – working with just one vendor avoids the complicated process of integrating equipment and solutions from multiple vendors while reducing the exposure to supply chain disruptions. Other benefits include easier automation, monitoring, comprehensive management, and improved efficiency and sustainability.

Omdia’s Cloud and Data Center Research Practice publishes market trackers, forecasts, and reports on data center physical infrastructure, including UPS, data center thermal management, and sustainability.