If some functionality of the tool seem don't work properly, try first to delete the cookies (find how to do it on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari ) and then, start again the wizard. If something still doesn't work, please send an email to general-info@renewit-project.eu
For your location, identify the Köppen climate classification using the hypothesis document that explains the hypothesis for the meteorological data. Then knowing the annual average wet and dry bulb temperature of your location, find the most appropriate location available in table 2 of the document. Finally use the location from the Location Map that fits best.
Taxes and connection fees are included in the electricity price. Since these are very different between countries, a European average price is calculated. For further clarification, there is a hypothesis document especially for this.
It is recommended to use the mixed workload profile since it is a mixture of different real workload profiles. Another good approximation is to use the HPC profile.
Even though there are some Data Centres with higher IT capacity, they are not a target for the project. These kind of very big installations are usually not integrated in smart cities and therefore they are out of the scope of the RenewIT project.
No, consolidation and then turning off all the servers at idle position is done for the entire Data Centre. Notice that if the percentage of utilization of the Data Centre is high (i.e. HPC) the effect of consolidation is really small since all the servers are working at almost full capacity.
Before introducing any kind of renewables in a system, the energy consumption of the system should be decreased to minimum levels. For that reason, the project aims to implement by default these advanced thermal energy efficiency strategies.
Concept 1 - Conventional system with free cooling. When free cooling is selected, it is recommended to also select hot or cold aisle containment and variable air flow (step 4). More advanced options that will improve the performance of the system, will be increasing the inlet air temperature and increasing the temperature difference between return and supply air temperature of the whitespace.
For the conventional system only indirect air free cooling can be selected. For the concept 3 - wet cooling tower there is a direct air free cooling system. There is no option to change between direct, indirect and adiabatic free cooling.
This option was not incorporated in the RenewIT tool. Concept 2 is similar but the servers are liquid cooled to take profit of the heat reuse. There are two liquid cooling technologies: on-chip server cooling, where approximately 75% of the heat is removed by the liquid cooling system, and immersed racks, where 100% of the heat is removed. In both cases the system includes an air cooling system in order to cold down the racks, if these are not yet at the desired temperature, or additional electrical devices of the whitespace such as UPS, lights etc.
This is an information number. The solar PV plant can be introduced as a PV peak (from 0 to 5 MW) or if the user introduces the available area for PV (i.e. the roof area). The maximum PV plant can be 5 MW. Depending of the location of the Data Centre (north or south Europe) the maximum available area for PV (to have 5 MW) will change, taking into account the shading calculation hypothesis.
If you download the PDF you’ll have all this information and much more.
The RenewIT tool considers the relationship between IT load and IT power consumption. The real IT power consumption is lower than the expected due to server architecture specifications. This phenomenon affects the total energy consumption (reducing it) and therefore the PUE increases. There is a more detailed explanation of the calculation process in the hypothesis document.
The exported/sold heat is not discounted from the energy demand of the Data Centre in the PUE according to the standards (INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC DIS 30134-2.2, “Information Technology-Data Centres-key performance indicators-Part 2: Power usage effectiveness (PUE)”). Therefore, PUE presents high values. In these concepts PUE is not the best indicator to evaluate the energy efficiency of the data centre.
The cost of water is considered in the calculations. However it is fixed for all the countries using a European average cost.
CAPEX considers each element used to build up the Data Centre (chillers, CRAHs, pipes, pumps, fans, CPH, generator, PDU, PSU, etc.) as well as building cost. IT servers are not considered in the CAPEX calculations. In the hypothesis document you can find further explanation.
Yes, the costs for both thermal and electrical energy storage systems are included in the investment cost. They are a function of the size, which is defined by the user.
OPEX includes the energy cost for all the energy sources and the user also can add the cost of the CO2 emissions in the calculations. It also includes yearly maintenance costs and costs for replacement of components.
When the OPEX is lower than zero, this means the annual income from renewable energy generated on-site is more than the annual operational expenses (electricity, fuel and maintenance). The excess of renewable energy is sold into the grid and the result is that the operational expenditures over the year can be negative (the facility is making money selling electricity to the grid).