Small step towards green data center power tested in Dublin

A test involving hydrogen fuel cells that is currently taking place in Dublin, Ireland at an Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data center proves progress is occurring in this space, but it is certainly not a “super meaningful step forward,” according to an analyst with Dell’Oro Group.

Lucas Beran, a research director whose primary focus revolves around power and cooling technologies that enable sustainable data centers, said the fact that the pilot is a relatively small one indicates it remains very early days for this type of deployment.

In a LinkedIn post  last week, Peter Lantry, managing director of Equinix Ireland, provided details of the trial, which he described as “the future of low carbon sustainable technology in Ireland.” Hydrogen fuel cell technology developed by GeoPura, a UK-based firm that specializes in renewable energy and Siemens Energy, and managed by ESB, Ireland’s state-owned electricity company, is being put to use at a data center site.

Equinix, he wrote, is “committed to sustainable digital infrastructure solutions and we are working with ESB to develop a hydrogen powered solution for our future International Business Exchange facilities in Dublin.”

Lantry described hydrogen fuel cells as being a “sustainable alternative to traditional backup power.”

According to ESB, “this type of hydrogen power unit can support the network by using fuel cell technology, converting hydrogen to electricity, to supply up to 250kW of clean power when required  — with the only by-product being pure water.”

In a net-zero world, it added, “converting renewable energy into green hydrogen and storing it for use in periods when the sun is not shining and wind is not blowing will be extremely beneficial. The deployment of electrolysers (electricity to hydrogen) and fuel cells (hydrogen to electricity) enable this conversion process.”

In a statement to Network World, Equinix said of the test itself that the Dublin IBX had a “preview of introducing alternative energy solutions to power data centers, which are traditionally very energy dependent. Hydrogen fuel cells can offer a more sustainable alternative, which can be used to offer demand response and stabilising services to the electricity grid.”

Their introduction, the company said, is another “evolution worth exploring in Equinix’s sustainability development plans and goal to achieve 100% renewable energy coverage by 2030.” It said that Dublin is the first IBX to test hydrogen fuel cells.

When it comes to fuel cell technology, said Beran, “one of the important things that is sometimes thought about, but most of the times overlooked, is how the hydrogen that a fuel cell runs on is made is ultimately the determining factor in how sustainable (they) are today and can be in the future.”

Today, he said, there are hydrogen fuel cells being utilized in the same manner as the Equinix proof of concept, “but more times that not, gray hydrogen is used, which has carbon emissions associated with it. It is still not this holy grail of green hydrogen that we are trying to get to.”

An MIT article posted earlier this year stated that, although green hydrogen is much cleaner, on average, than other methods of producing hydrogen, “exactly how clean (it is) depends on supply chains and how consistently the equipment producing it can run.”

Hydrogen, the article noted, “is often held up as a potential clean fuel of the future, because it can be burned like oil or gas but releases no climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) — only water. But while hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, there isn’t an easy-to-tap source of pure hydrogen available on Earth. To use it, society must manufacture it.”