Solar shift: How data centers can embrace renewable energy

Benefits of solar power use in data centers

Solar power provides energy independence and security to facility owners. It reduces reliance on the electrical grid and offers resilience against power outages and variable weather patterns. The best locations for solar panels are in areas with constant sunlight throughout the day, such as Texas, California, Arizona, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China.

The generation of solar power does not produce carbon emissions. The manufacturing of solar panels does produce carbon emissions but at a much smaller rate than continuously burning coal and gas. Once panels are built, the energy that comes from solar power is completely carbon-free.

Solar power offers more predictable long-term costs as it does not have fluctuating energy prices, unlike natural gas and fossil fuels. Payments involve the upfront cost of the panels, installation and necessary maintenance.

The battery reserve that solar panel systems hold can also act as a backup for critical systems, ensuring business continuity and mitigating downtime during power outages.

From a sustainability perspective, solar power integration aligns with corporate goals of green data centers. As environmental regulations become stricter to reach net-zero goals, solar-powered data centers are well positioned to meet compliance requirements, future-proof operations and see more investment in the technology.

Challenges to solar power integration

The main challenge to constantly running a facility off solar power is intermittency. Solar power is an intermittent energy source as it only generates electricity during daylight hours and at a reduced capacity on cloudy days. Locations without much sunlight do not provide enough energy for the maximum benefit of solar power.

As environmental regulations become stricter to reach net-zero goals, solar-powered data centers are well positioned to meet compliance requirements, future-proof operations and see more investment in the technology.

Another challenge is the current solar technology. According to Simple Thread, a software company with a focus on energy efficiency, the average utility-scale solar installation produces only about a quarter of its theoretical maximum capacity over time. To run a data center 24/7/365 on solar power, facility owners need substantial energy storage capacity for nighttime operations and periods of low sun.

Solar panels take up space. In the same article, Simple Thread stated that a 100-megawatt (MW) data center requires approximately 1,446 acres of solar panels to meet its energy needs. Data centers currently use terawatts of power. This means a solar panel farm measuring hundreds or thousands of square miles is necessary to power a single facility.

Guidelines to integrate solar energy into the data center

Data center facility owners must understand three necessary factors that enable the best use of solar power and installation:

1. High sun exposure during daylight hours. Preferred locations have limited cloud cover. Daily and constant sun exposure enables the maximum energy reserve for the solar power unit.
2. Space to install solar panels. They can be put in open areas near the facility, such as large parking lots, surrounding land or the roof of the data center, if it is large enough.
3. Government incentives. Some local governments offer incentives to companies that use solar panels to offset the high upfront costs of installation, as well as other energy alternatives. Singapore, China, UAE, North Carolina, Florida and California are locations that offer supportive policies and incentives to data centers that switch to solar power.

Prospects of solar power for data centers

Google and Apple have deployed solar power to partially run their data centers. Google partnered with local renewable energy producers in Arizona to run its Mesa data center with solar and wind power. Apple has deployed a third solar power site outside Reno, Nev., to join the company’s three other Nevada projects that deliver 270 MW to its power infrastructure.

Facility owners without the space or budget to build their own solar power plants can partner with renewable energy companies to make use of their networks and infrastructure to power their data centers.

The road ahead

The need for sustainable and renewable energy sources becomes more important as energy demands increase, and solar energy is at the forefront of this revolution. Electricity use analysis and forecast by the International Energy Agency predicted 2022 energy consumption levels will double by 2026. That means that, by 2026, data centers will use as much electricity as the entire country of Japan.

With current solar technology, battery storage capabilities, and current and forecasted power usage, data centers cannot solely run on solar power — especially if it’s a large-scale or hyperscale facility. For now, solar energy can be used as part of a hybrid electrical system when combined with other energy sources.

Technology advancements and improvements in solar panel efficiency and energy storage continue to evolve, making a fully solar-powered data center more viable in the future.

Julia Borgini is a freelance technical copywriter, content marketer, content strategist and geek. She writes about B2B tech, SaaS, DevOps, the cloud and other tech topics.