The successful powering of high-performance servers with renewable energy sources (RES) depends on the following factors:
- Geographic location
- RES density
- Geopolitical regulations
- RES intermittency and reliability
- Cost of renewable energy and infrastructure
- Grid integration
- Energy efficiency and cooling challenges
Green hosting providers are constantly tackling technical, economic, or operational challenges to guarantee a reliable, efficient, and sustainable power supply for their high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
In This Article:
Geographic location
The possibility of powering high-performance servers with RES depends entirely on their geographical location.
Bare-metal high-output servers in areas with insignificant natural wind or sun intensity cannot be powered with green energy. In contrast, there are hosting companies like GreenGeeks, the first carbon-neutral service to offset its environmental footprint by 300%. Its servers are located in Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Energy Digital reveals that as of 2024, the USA is the second-best location for RES-powered businesses, and Canada is number five.
Geopolitical challenges
The European Commission has envisaged that the 27 member states to go carbon-neutral by 2050.
While Germany is the sixth-most RES-using country in the world and Spain is the tenth, local legislation prevents the EU from fully developing its green energy potential.
It has been estimated that the land required to meet the 2035 RES adoption benchmark is roughly the size of Belgium.
RES density
In their report Transforming Businesses with AI, Cisco reveals that 83% of executives believe AI
is a strategic priority for their businesses in 2024.
However, energy-intensive workloads, such as AI training, require a consistent supply of power, which may not be feasible with renewable sources.
The reason is that the geographical locations where RES are abundant are densely populated with green enterprises from various industries.
RES intermittency and reliability
Solar and wind energy sources are intermittent because their intensity is seasonal.
Periods of insufficient energy generation occur throughout the year, while high-performance servers and data centers require a constant and reliable power supply.
Power fluctuations can result in system downtime, lower performance, and slow data transfers.
Energy storage options
Energy storage solutions and energy-mixing strategies can offset the negative effect of RES intermittency on high-performance servers.
Many green web hosting providers have Implemented large-scale battery storage systems into their infrastructure to store the excess energy generated during peak production periods.
A more sophisticated solution combines multiple RES with backup power from the grid to ensure power supply stability.
Cost of renewable energy & infrastructure
While the cost of solar and wind energy solutions has been decreasing since the mid-2000s, the initial investment in infrastructure, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries, is still significant.
Upfront capital is currently one of the major challenges hindering small and medium-sized hosting providers’ widespread adoption of RES-powered infrastructure.
Grid integration
Integrating renewable energy into existing power grids to power data centers and bare-metal servers is both technically challenging and expensive.
In many developing regions, the grid infrastructure does not provide for RES integration. National electric power operators are challenged to make substantial capital investments in upgrading their grids to the latest renewable energy adoption standards.
Instead, small energy utilities are deploying microgrids with renewable energy capabilities. Their primary function is to assist the main power grid in balancing the energy mix.
Energy efficiency and cooling challenges
High-performance servers are constantly at risk of overheating. Technically advanced and reliable cooling systems ensure smooth operation, but these solutions require a stable power supply.
Efficient server cooling becomes even more challenging when relying on renewable energy alone.
Today’s intelligent cooling systems combine liquid, evaporative, and free cooling to make AC units more energy-efficient.
Final thoughts
The challenges of powering high-performance servers with renewable energy are various, but their number is bound to diminish in the near future.
Rapid technological advancements have made server infrastructure more energy efficient, while hosting providers demonstrate a growing commitment to carbon neutrality.
Therefore, given a favorable geographical location, intelligent energy mix management, and innovative cooling solutions, RES can power high-performance servers.
