The suspicious break of the EstLink 2 energy cable in the Baltic Sea, the impending disconnection from the BRELL network and the green transition with the abandonment of shale capacities are causing fever in the Estonian electricity market. How do one of the most “gluttonous” objects, data centers, cope with the energy crisis, and should we worry about possible interruptions in their power supply?
Despite a major failure on the Estlink 2 cable in the Baltic Sea, which supplies Estonia with electricity from the Finnish and Scandinavian markets, according to Elering, not one of Estonia’s data centers, nor any consumer in general, has even temporarily lost power.
The company explains that in the event of an emergency such as the current one, reserve capacity is activated. “One data center is connected to the Elering network, which is located next to the Elering substation in Harku. This data center is connected to the Elering network through two connection points, that is, it has two connections to the main network. In addition, according to the data available at that time, the data center has its own generators. Thus, the power supply is duplicated many times over,” says Ain Köster, communications advisor at Elering.
We are talking about the largest data center in the Baltic countries, Greenenergy, it belongs to MCF Group Estonia OÜ. Going online in 2018, the center says it aims to achieve a quarter better energy efficiency performance than the industry average. The power consumption of the data center in the first stage was 12 megawatts, and after the completion of the new Harku-Lihula-Sindi transmission line – 18 megawatts. MCF Group Estonia installed diesel generators in the data center as an alternative power source.
Diesel reserve and more
Their colleagues use the same technology. “Data centers really only use diesel generators. Gasoline generators are more suitable for household solutions. Ours, for example, is equipped with additional tanks, which allows it to operate without refueling for 4 days,” says Christian Liivak, technical director of WaveCom AS. According to him, the company chose biodiesel as fuel, which is gentler on the engine and prevents possible incidents and failures during long-term operation of the generator.
Liivak noted that reserve capacity was organized at the time the data center was launched and, despite the alarming news on the energy market, now the operator does not see the need to increase capacity.
According to the Data Center Map service, there are more than a dozen large data centers in Estonia, most of which are located in Tallinn and near the capital, two more in Ida-Virumaa, Jõhvi and Narva. The largest number of centers is operated by the communications company Telia. “In 2023, we successfully carried out a crisis exercise based on a large-scale power outage scenario, which helps us continue to provide vital services even in the event of major interruptions,” Andreas Meister, head of risk management at Telia Eesti, told DV. “In addition, we regularly use and We are testing alternative solutions to ensure autonomous power supply, such as energy from solar panels or hydrogen.”
At least 24 hours
According to Meister, Telia’s crisis plan in the event of a power outage provides for the autonomy of facilities that provide important communications services. “For the most critical facilities, such as data centers, autonomy is ensured for at least 24 hours,” he said.
“Data centers, like hospitals, are critical infrastructure, and their power supply is ensured even in emergency situations when power is insufficient. In addition, all data centers are equipped with uninterruptible power supplies, which protect against short-term fluctuations and outages,” explains Christian Liivak.
According to him, in many data centers, power is supplied through several cables connected to different substations, which also ensures greater reliability of power supply.
“Even if all external connections are cut off, Estonia’s production capacity is sufficient to ensure energy supply. However, such outages can lead to longer outages or, in the worst case, repeated failures and power surges. It is known that the launch of old stations can take days,” says Liivak.
The owner and head of the hosting company Loginet Solutions OÜ Konstantin Roomet explained to DV that the power supply of most data centers is organized in a similar way. The required amount of energy is purchased from wholesale suppliers and secured by long-term contracts. At the same time, the facility can generate part of the required electricity itself – for example, with the help of solar panels; the share of this power depends on how “green” the data center positions itself.
In case of power outages, data centers switch to rechargeable batteries, which last for 15-20 minutes. If the outage lasts longer, the facility switches to diesel generators.
Another risk for data centers, he said, may be low-quality or outdated uninterruptible power supplies that cannot cope with voltage surges. Finally, the electrical infrastructure of data centers, including generators, requires regular updating and personnel need appropriate training.
At the same time, the majority of industry representatives surveyed today do not see significant risks of energy outages. According to Levira’s director of technology and IT, Christo Kaasan, providing backup capacity is standard practice when designing and certifying data centers.
“Energy security solutions are updated and supplemented as necessary, for example, when equipment wears out or new technologies are introduced. Levira masts and data centers are designed and built with a high degree of reliability, offering redundant safety margins in both input cables and power supplies,” says Kaasan.
Concern, but not alarm
According to the owner and head of the hosting company Loginet Solutions OÜ, Konstantin Roomet, today Estonia is not an attractive place to locate data centers, including due to high prices for electricity, although before, he mentions, the country even competed for the opportunity to build one the very Apple data center, which eventually went to Denmark. According to Roomet, up to 80% of the cost of hosting for the end user in Estonia today comes from the cost of electricity and maintaining the energy infrastructure.
At the same time, according to the head of Loginet Solutions, he is not aware of any participant in the data center services market making emergency investments in the energy security of their facilities. In a conversation with the Far East, he noted that we are talking about long-term strategic decisions that are not made based on the current news agenda. “There is concern in the technology sector about the energy market, but there is no alarm,” concludes Roomet.
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Source: www.dv.ee
