Schneider Electric Shi Baochun - How to improve data center management efficiency

As mentioned above, the high energy consumption of data centers has become a sensitive topic in the industry, and green data centers will become a trend. So what is green? First of all, it is the energy supply to data centers, such as the use of photovoltaic, wind power, and hydropower to gradually replace thermal power. However, many sources need to be adapted to local conditions and are difficult to promote universally. For example, wind power in Inner Mongolia and Zhangbei is not applicable in southern cities such as Guangdong and Fujian. Then, at this time, the green data center must be interpreted from another level, that is, to improve the energy utilization rate of the data center through advanced solutions and technologies. Among them, power management is a very important part.

Mr. Shi Baochun believes that with the increasing application of lithium batteries in UPS, the power management of data centers will also undergo fundamental changes in the future, such as the concept of energy storage. As we all know, unlike the lead-acid batteries currently used in data center UPS, lithium batteries are superior to traditional lead-acid batteries in terms of cycle life, rapid charge and discharge capabilities, and density. In the future, the pressure on the power grid can be reduced by storing electricity during the trough of electricity consumption and then discharging it during peak periods, while achieving the goal of green. In fact, the country's green requirements for data centers are also because the power grid is under too much pressure during peak hours. If there is an energy storage function, the pressure on the power grid will be reduced. The energy storage function will make a great contribution to both green and TCO, meeting both the government's green PUE requirements and the client's requirements to reduce TCO, which is a win-win situation.

The general view in the industry now is that the construction cost will increase significantly if a power system with lithium batteries is deployed. But in fact, when considering costs, we should not start from the simple construction cost, but should consider the full life cycle cost. Because the construction cost often only accounts for 30% of the full life cycle cost of the system, and the remaining 70% is the operation and management cost. Mr. Shi Baochun said that taking the colloid battery with better performance among lead-acid batteries as an example, this type of battery is currently widely used among high-end users such as finance and communications. The cost difference between a colloid battery with a 15-minute backup power supply and a lithium battery is actually not much. But lithium batteries can be charged and discharged more than 8,000 times, and can also store energy. In addition, lithium batteries are equipped with a management system as standard, and do not require later human intervention and maintenance. In contrast, the daily operation and maintenance of lead-acid batteries is very cumbersome.

Finally, regarding the construction cost, driven by the rise in international lead prices, the price of lead-acid batteries has been rising. However, the price of lithium batteries is falling. Mr. Shi Baochun believes that the price trends of lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries will have an intersection in the next two to three years, when the costs of the two will be consistent, and lithium batteries will become the trend due to their performance advantages.