Equinix pilots use of fuel cell in 'shipping container' outside datacenter
- Reference: 1723803492
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/16/equinix_shows_off_demo_fuel/
- Source link:
Datacenters guzzled more than a fifth of Ireland's electricity in 2023 [1]READ MORE
The global datacenter and colocation provider has been looking into fuel cells powered by hydrogen for some time as a greener alternative to other energy sources. It previously said it wanted to develop proof-of-concept projects for real-world testing within its network of facilities.
This week, Peter Lantry, managing director of Equinix Ireland, claimed in a [2]LinkedIn post that he was showing off a unit to some visiting colleagues outside one of the four International Business Exchange (IBX) datacenters it operates near the Irish capital.
"I am delighted to be able to give a little preview of the new ESB Hydrogen Fuel Cell zero carbon technology developed by GeoPura to our global Design and Operations leadership team, including Equinix Global Head of Operations Raouf Abdel at our Dublin International Business Exchange," Lantry wrote.
"It might look like just a shipping container – but this really is the future of low carbon sustainable technology in Ireland and I'm incredibly proud to be at the forefront of a trial making use of this technology," he added.
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As Lantry disclosed, the demonstration unit was supplied by state-owned energy biz [4]ESB , but was produced by [5]GeoPura , a UK-based renewable energy company and its partner, Siemens Energy.
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According to ESB, this type of hydrogen power unit – which does appear to be housed in a shipping container – can supply up to 250 kW of clean power when required. A demonstration unit was also hosted at ESB's head office in Dublin in July, and units have already supplied energy for large-scale events including festivals and replaced diesel generators in some construction settings.
An Equinix spokesperson confirmed to The Register that it is just a trial of the fuel cell technology at this point: "We are also working on plans to expand the use of the fuel cell technology for a full datacenter solution in the coming months and years."
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The company rep confirmed the fuel cell units will be used for backup power rather than diesel generators.
[9]UK's 'electricity superhighway' gets green light just in time for AI to gobble it all up
[10]Gas pipeline players in talks to fuel AI datacenter demand
[11]Rising costs biggest issue for datacenter operators as demand grows
[12]Your next datacenter could be in the middle of nowhere
Last year, SK Ecoplant, a division of Korean giant SK Group, said it was planning a bit barn in Ireland [13]powered entirely by fuel cells , to be sited to the west of Dublin, in Castlelost, County Westmeath.
Two years ago, Dutch datacenter operator [14]NorthC claimed it was using hydrogen fuel cell technology as a backup power source, replacing diesel generator sets. But it wasn't the first in the world – Microsoft was [15]trying out the technology back in 2020.
Equinix was itself investigating the potential of fuel cells back in 2022, when it [16]teamed up with the National University of Singapore on a project.
Earlier this year, Honda and Mitsubishi started a project to test the feasibility of [17]powering a datacenter with fuel cells repurposed from electric vehicles.
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Fuel cells provide power by converting the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity. This is typically hydrogen and oxygen.
However, the catch is where the hydrogen comes from. ESB has said it wants the majority of Ireland's energy to be generated by renewable sources in future, and if some of that were used to produce so-called "green" hydrogen, then it could be regarded as carbon-free. Much industrially produced hydrogen is currently extracted from methane, an energy-intensive process often powered by fossil fuels. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/ireland_datacenter_power_consumption/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peter-lantry_zerocarbon-equinix-hydrogenfuelcells-ugcPost-7229034855542468609-CjqQ
[3] 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=2Zr93pnWlSz1sq7b5zonYMwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://esb.ie/home
[5] https://www.geopura.com/
[6] 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=44Zr93pnWlSz1sq7b5zonYMwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] 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=33Zr93pnWlSz1sq7b5zonYMwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[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=44Zr93pnWlSz1sq7b5zonYMwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/uks_electricity_superhighway/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/11/pipeline_operators_ai_demand/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/30/rising_datacenter_costs/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/15/remote_datacenters_on_the_rise/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/07/ireland_to_develop_datacenter_powered/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/northc_hydrogen_power/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/28/microsoft_data_center_hydrogen_power/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/22/equinix_fuel_cell_datacenter/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/03/japan_to_test_datacenter_powered/
[18] 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=33Zr93pnWlSz1sq7b5zonYMwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
And in the future
About right for now. But in 5-10 years the peak solar/wind generation seems likely to exceed demand - so using it for green hydrogen could be cheap. Or spare nuke overnight for example.
So in the long run it’s probably a win even if its impact today is small scale and primarily PR.
Green washing...
Is that what you call research? This is clearly not a currently commercial project, but one that is testing what is possible, and how it would be possible - with a view to future supplies, not today's supplies.
Hydrogen is difficult to store, but this would be another static storage environment, with a power load high enough to count as basically grid scale.
It's of course possible that technologies around hydrogen storage will make it much easier (there seems to be substantial interest in using ammonia as a carrier - and whilst I assume there will be some RTE penalty it's entirely possible that that's a penalty which is acceptable (given the relatively low efficiency of hydrogen storage)
testing what is possible
Fuel cell technology is very mature, there's not a lot left to work out - possibly some fine tuning with improved or cheaper anodes, cathodes or catalysts but nothing groundbreaking.
The only thing to work out is safe and secure bulk hydrogen storage and transport. This is where it all falls apart, if you are going to store pressurised gaseous hydrogen you'll need huge tanks, if you go for liquid hydrogen smaller tanks will suffice but they need to be double walled cryogenic tanks and you'll need to absorb the high expense of compressing the hydrogen to a liquid in the first place.
Hydrogen has a place in the energy economy but I'm not sure this will be of any use except in the few cases where a datacentre is close to a hydrogen production facility.
The biggest problem is energy efficiency. The chain Electricity -> Hydrogen -> Electricity has an overall efficiency of around 30% which is appallingly bad.
"hydrogen fuel cell technology"
That will only be green if the hydrogen is produced by nuclear reactors (Thorium being my preference), and delivered by battery-powered trucks (no, not CyberTruck).
But, in the absolute, good idea. We need power-production alternatives that don't use coal or fossil fuels.
Re: "hydrogen fuel cell technology"
Why do you say only nuclear is green?
Ireland doesn't have any nuclear reactors and probably won't in the next 5 to 10 years. It does have about 70% energy produced from renewable sources with wind being the largest.
Wind capacity can easily go to over 100% of demand in the same time period but obviously is weather dependent. Waves are a better source but not there yet.
Hydrogen could store the excess for the times it isn't blowing.
So.....
hydrogen wells are plentiful in Ireland then?
Is hydrogen a good fuel for back-up generators?
It's impossible make a 100% leak proof container for hydrogen and it will embrittle many materials including stainless steel.
There does not seem to be a good fiscal reason for this, it'll have higher purchase and running costs than a diesel or gas generator so the only reason to go this way is either if it is subsidised or good old fashioned green-washing. (Which doesn't work because there is only a tiny amount of "green hydrogen" available now and for the foreseeable future),