Iomart is hoping to reduce its strain on the electrical grid with the installation of 560 solar panels at its flagship data centre in Maidenhead.
Installed by 3ti, the rooftop solar panels are projected to generate approximately 250,000 kWh of energy per annum. Of course, the majority of that generation will take place in the summer months, with iomart hoping that the array will generate enough power during those months to cover its electricity needs.
Data centres have come under fire for their impact on local electricity grids, with John Pettigrew, Group CEO of National Grid, predicting that the UK data centre industry will require six times the amount of power that it consumes today by 2035.
It is possible, however, that the amount of energy being consumed by UK data centres is being underreported, as highlighted recently in Data Centre Review. That means the UK is increasingly having to source its electricity from more expensive sources, such as fossil fuel power plants and interconnectors, with high energy users ultimately paying higher prices.
That could be one reason that iomart has decided to invest in such a sizable rooftop solar array for its flagship data centre in the UK, but the company has also got its sights on being environmentally responsible. In fact, the firm plans to have all 13 of its UK data centres powered entirely with renewable energy sources, with a mix of wind, hydro and solar, although it’s unlikely that these will all be located onsite, unlike the solar array in Maidenhead.
The environmental boost iomart is receiving from its onsite solar is also significant. In addition to generating an estimated 250,000 kWh of electricity per year, the rooftop solar array in Maidenhead could prevent around 96,061 kg of CO2 emissions each year.
David Gammie, CTO at Iomart, commented on the installation, “We have a large portfolio of data centres across the UK and making sure they’re as sustainable as possible is one of our biggest focuses at iomart. We’ve already committed to powering all our data centres with 100% renewable energy. This installation at Maidenhead takes that commitment one step further – generating our own energy onsite, and in addition the potential to export energy back into the grid network in the future. Our Maidenhead data centre is the ideal location for a project like this. It has a vast roof space, making solar panels the ideal solution.”