NGD delivers PUE 1.0 ‘world first’

Next Generation Data (NGD) says that it is the first data centre operator in the world to offer customers multiple rack data hall environments with contractual power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratios of just 1.0 – the most energy efficient rating on the globally recognised scale prescribed by the Green Grid.

NGD’s PUE 1.0 breakthrough will be available to customers at its NGD Europe mega data centre in South Wales from the first quarter of 2015 and will be achieved by harnessing the latest solar power and free cooling technologies combined with a 100 % renewably sourced mains supply. The solar power generated will offset all essential facilities energy consumed when operating customer IT racks and storage equipment to deliver zero cooling costs and enable carbon emissions savings of 505,718 Kgs per year.

NGD’s planned solar capability will make its 750,000 square feet NGD Europe facility one of the largest data centre rooftop solar deployments in the world. Following the final go ahead from NGD’s Welsh Government landlord the 4,000 photovoltaic (PV) solar panel ‘megawatt array’ installation will be capable of generating one million kilowatt hours (KWh) of free ‘green’ electricity per year – the equivalent usage of up to 240 homes.

NGD is also deploying the latest Stultz GE cooling system technology which intelligently determines the best mode of operation according to ambient conditions and data hall requirements. It allows the system to operate in free cooling mode for the majority of the year, only providing supplementary cooling in times of elevated external ambient conditions.

“We are committed to building sustainable data centres for our customers’ mission critical IT services and therefore delighted to be the world’s first data centre operator to offer the ultimate choice in energy efficient data halls,” said Nick Razey, CEO, NGD. “We will ensure the highest level of resilience and stability is maintained thanks to our abundant 100% renewable energy direct-from-grid mains power supply and deployment of real-time energy management systems.”
With a record of 100% uptime, NGD’s highly scalable Tier 3 data centre features a unique direct connection to the National SuperGrid via an on-site power substation for total N+1 control over power transmission. Up to 180 MW of power is available for ensuring huge reserves when supporting high density IT rack systems such as those deployed for internet ecommerce and cloud computing.

In 2010 NGD lead the data centre industry in sourcing all mains connected power from 100% renewable energy and earlier this year became the UK’s first data centre operator to receive a Climate Change Agreement (CCA) from the Government.

NGD’s power transmission and energy optimisation initiatives have resulted in it offering lower than industry norm power pricing and total exemption from carbon taxation (CRC and CCL). The BREEAM rated NGD data centre building was sustainably constructed on the site of a former semi-conductor factory and has attained ISO 14001 environmental accreditation.

Some of NGD’s largest customers include IT services giants BT, CGI, IBM and Wipro Technologies.