Data Centre
Data has been widely referred to as ‘the new oil for the 21st century’. Global demand growth for data is exploding. In 2022, the world generated 97 trillion gigabytes of data. By 2025, this will likely almost double to 181 trillion gigabytes.
Triggers for this include growth of AI, VPN, 3D printing, digital twins and blockchain. Data centre workload has increased 120% in the past 5 years and annual investment now exceeds $125Bn, with Edge quadrupling in 4 years. To enable this, ever-more powerful chips are running faster and hotter.
In 2022, data centres accounted for around 1.5-3% of global energy demand and nearly 1% of GHG emissions. It is estimated that 20M GW of diesel generators are currently supporting data centres by guaranteeing an uninterrupted power supply.
If the industry didn’t change its technologies and behaviours, it could soon account for 10% of global energy demand. The sector is now so large that it has caught the attention of legislators, environmentalists and, increasingly, the general public as a key lever for achieving Net Zero carbon targets.
Recently, it has become clear that bottle-necks in the availability of new power grid connections and water supplies will increasingly greatly impact the ability to obtain planning permits to build new data centre facilities in many parts of the world.
NovAzure has been actively participating in the data centre industry for the past 4 years, beginning when UK start-up, Iceotope, approached us to ask for advice about how to price their revolutionary technology for Precision Liquid Cooling of data centres.
Iceotope solutions can deliver electricity savings of up to 40% and water savings of up to 96% when compared to legacy air-cooled systems of data centre cooling.
At NovAzure, when we heard of the benefits of the new technology, we were hooked: here was a sector that deserved a great deal of our attention if we are to collectively achieve acceleration of the transition to Net Zero by 2050.
Curated Corporate/ Start-up Partnerships
We have established and managed a number of successful collaborative R&D and/or BD relationships between start-up/scale-up clients and corporate clients, where we have leveraged personal corporate careers and hands-on experience of working and investing in start-ups to facilitate effective partnerships.
NovAzure’s ecosystem includes data centre design, build and operations experts (colocators, owner operators, etc.), energy utilities and related intermediaries, as well as manufacturers and IP holders of chips, cooling equipment and dielectric liquids for cooling.
NovAzure Value Calculator Solutions For Data Centres
NovAzure’s evolving Pricing Practice has developed industry-leading modelling solutions for comparing the total cost of ownership and energy/ carbon footprint of data centres using all of the major cooling technologies (Precision Liquid, Direct to Chip, Tank Immersion) and would be pleased to hear from industry participants who see potential value in applying this approach to evaluate innovative technologies and data centre business cases.
If your pain points and opportunities are related to driving innovation in the data centre industry to grow capacity whilst addressing the concerns around energy, water and sustainability for a Net Zero transition, then please reach out to talk with us.