This data center will be Europe’s first with hydrogen backup power
- Reference: 1644913806
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/15/northc_hydrogen_power/
- Source link:
The H 2 -powered 500KW hydrogen fuel cell module will run on hydrogen created by renewable power and is intended to reduce consumption of diesel by tens of thousands of litres a year, while preventing 78,000 kilos of CO 2 emissions per year, [1]according to NorthC. The only emissions in the new fuel cells, made by Dutch builder Nedstack, will be water, and the hardware is expected to be good for 20 years of operation.
Here's a vid about it:
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[3]Youtube Video
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The energy consumption and carbon footprint of data centers is a hot topic at the moment, especially as by some estimates they account for around [6]one per cent of the entire world’s electricity use, and growing. The data center industry in the EU has agreed to make data centers [7]climate neutral by 2030, and NorthC claims that hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology to achieve this goal.
This is because the diesel generators that typically serve as emergency power have to be tested regularly, often on a monthly basis, to ensure that they'll work went the main electricity supply goes down. Multiply that by the number of data centers around Europe, and testing backups alone represents a considerable amount of diesel being consumed and emissions made.
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NorthC claimed that the 78 tons of CO 2 the fuel cell will save is equal to the output of 24 cars covering the average number of kilometers a Dutch person drives per day (that's 32 km), or 20,000 smartphones being charged every day, over a whole year. That's got to be a new one for the Register [9]standards converter .
Green kid on the block
Hydrogen is considered a clean fuel because when consumed in a fuel cell, it produces only water as a by-product. However, most of the hydrogen that exists on Earth is combined with other elements and separating it out can be an energy-intensive process.
To be classed as [10]green hydrogen , it must be produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using mostly renewable energy. Grey hydrogen is produced from methane using steam to split it into CO 2 and hydrogen, while blue hydrogen uses a similar process but captures the CO 2 produced.
“Hydrogen has always had very energy intensive production and distribution overheads,” commented Andrew Buss, research director for European Enterprise Infrastructure at IDC. This is partly because hydrogen molecules are so small they can leak out of containers, making storage and transport a challenge on top of the energy required to produce it.
[11]UK funds hydrogen-powered cargo submarine to torpedo maritime emissions by 2050
[12]Green hydrogen 'transitioning from a shed-based industry' says researcher as the UK hedges its H 2 strategy
[13]UK urged to choo-choo-choose hydrogen-powered trains in pursuit of carbon-neutral economic growth
[14]SAP expects to rid car fleet of fossil fuel engines by 2030 – but still more than happy to take money from oil industry
NorthC is not the first in the world to pursue hydrogen fuel cells as a backup power source for data centres – Microsoft was [15]testing out this technology in the US in 2020. But NorthC claims it will be the first in Europe to use them in a production setting when the Groningen kit becomes operational, which is slated for the middle of June.
For existing generators that run on diesel, NorthC is also investigating whether it is possible to convert them to run on hydrogen. While this is less efficient than hydrogen fuel cells it would still significantly reduce emissions and further contribute to sustainability, the firm said. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.northcdatacenters.com/en/northc-installs-europes-first-emergency-power-facilities-that-run-on-green-hydrogen-in-groningen/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YguH2kzMk3nyaDy0mjdrLQAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9pTVmoTWWc&t=45s
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YguH2kzMk3nyaDy0mjdrLQAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YguH2kzMk3nyaDy0mjdrLQAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba3758
[7] https://www.climateneutraldatacentre.net/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YguH2kzMk3nyaDy0mjdrLQAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html
[10] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/what-is-green-hydrogen-expert-explains-benefits/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/16/hydrogen_cargo_sub/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/17/uk_government_hydrogen_strategy/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/24/uk_hydrogen_trains/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/sap_electric_fleet/
[15] https://news.microsoft.com/innovation-stories/hydrogen-datacenters/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
More substance less symbolism
That would be equivalent to 0.00028% of the car emissions (considering there are about 8500000 cars in the NL). That is still an extremely small change and will have no real measurable effect. The 500kW power generation for the datacenter would be equivalent to about 263000 kg of CO 2 per year (at 60g/kWh). That would calculate to a 30% reduction for this particular datacenter if the hydrogen system would be a zero sum system and the calculation would be this easy (which it is not). The actual cost is the datacenter itself, its content/hardware and the permanent power usage.
As commendable I find these small changes, I do not think we can continue with these small changes. This particular datacenter may attract 10..30% more customers/capacity with all the attention and its power usage will increase. Therefore, the reduction is compensated by higher usage and we are no better off than before. We need to break the pattern to do better.
A Step In The Right Direction
At least they are using a fuel cell rather than switching to some sort of hydrogen ICE.
This may only be a tiny dent in thing but as a concept it has to be better. Yes, they hydrogen may not be entirely green to start with however will all these things we have to start somewhere.
Hydrogen may be inefficient however if you and goal is zero CO2 emissions, it is still better than fossil fuels. It can also be stored and overall if probably far less damaging to the environment than battery technologies.
Re: A Step In The Right Direction
I thought the problem with hydrogen, was that it can't be stored because its atoms are smaller than the atoms making the containers, so it leaks out and is lost?
Re: A Step In The Right Direction
That's a problem that is being tackled by a number of start-ups. Kubagen for example, uses a molecular 'sieve' that increases capacity and reduces storage pressure.
This is a very interesting first step. It's more than a proof of concept, it shows it works in the real world.
Storing electricity is not easy, but storing electricity as hydrogen is much easier, can be made locally and reused at the same place.
It would interesting to have more details on how NorthC produces (or gets) the H 2
Dutch have been active on this space, including contracts with South Australia, where solar panels have already periodically produced more energy than the state need! Plan to convert excess into hydrogen.
Hydrogen, eh?
Oh the humanity! And there's no such thing as 'renewable' energy or 'green' energy. All energy is heat.