The idea is good and a German company invented windCORES. Using the base of wind turbines to create climate data centers.
Datacenters based on wind turbines
What if wind turbine masts could be used as data centers? This is the proposal of a German company to provide low-emission data centers.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is revolutionizing technological applicationspresenting previously unimaginable opportunities.
The question is: where will the immense processing capacity needed come from and how will the electrical grids be able to support the high energy needs of data centers?
A WestfalenWind IT e a Rittal have come up with an innovative solution: windCORES, climate-neutral data centers located directly at the base of wind turbines. These centers use green electricity generated on site, often utilizing excess capacity that would otherwise go to waste. A German car manufacturer has adopted this concept, transferring a large portion of its processing capacity to wind turbines.
GenAI and its enormous prospects
The projections for GenAI are impressive. An American consulting firm that designs market analysis work for the US government, McKinsey, predicted that GenAI's productivity gains could contribute between $2.6 billion and $4.4 billion dollars per year to the global economy.
On the other hand, the analysis of this growth of GenAI technology states that energy demand will increase tenfold in the next five years due to generative artificial intelligence.
From pilot project to industrial standard
The windCORES pilot project won the German Data Center Award in 2019. Today, it has become a scalable industrial project. A major automotive manufacturer has moved entire applications to a windCORES datacenter with 50 racks.
In the future, high-performance computing for AI and GenAI as well as simulations for autonomous driving will be climate-neutral.
The implementation was carried out in a colocation model with an IT service provider. Rittal is providing the complete infrastructure for WestfalenWind IT, including three security rooms, IT racks, climate control, independent power supplies (UPS) and monitoring.
The data center uses more than 90% wind power and exploits synergies to save resources across the board. When installing and integrating the wind turbines, existing infrastructure such as the reinforced concrete safety tower and the electricity and grid connection infrastructure are used.
Explains Fiete Dubberke, CEO of WestfalenWind.
Thanks to the direct supply of wind energy, windCORES’ energy costs are well below the market average. In many cases, the data center runs on electricity that would otherwise go unused because the grids could not absorb it.
This innovative solution not only improves the utilization of wind energy, but also sets a new standard for sustainability in the data center industry.
Source: pplware.sapo.pt
