Thank you for another excellent article. The aside concerning diesel generators prompted me to search a bit, as current power-system debate flags tight capacity constraints among Mitsubishi Heavy, Siemens etc makers of big gas generators thus leaving only short-term alternative allegedly being solar and BESS battery energy storage systems. But a look around at diesel generators reveals that (for Caterpillar alone, and from a net-zero news source) “On an earnings call on 29 October, CEO Joe Creed revealed that sales in the company’s power generation segment jumped 33%, “primarily due to demand for reciprocating engines for data centre applications.” Apparently, there’s already 20 GW of standby diesel in datacentres and the number’s rising rapidly.
Thank you Andrew! And yes, there is for sure a decent amount of un-(or under-) used diesel backup generator capacity. Depending on location, there may be environmental rules (as I understand it...need to dig in further) that may limit the circumstances under which that can be used. Clearly in many emerging markets, its unlikely there would be restrictions.
Thank you for another excellent article. The aside concerning diesel generators prompted me to search a bit, as current power-system debate flags tight capacity constraints among Mitsubishi Heavy, Siemens etc makers of big gas generators thus leaving only short-term alternative allegedly being solar and BESS battery energy storage systems. But a look around at diesel generators reveals that (for Caterpillar alone, and from a net-zero news source) “On an earnings call on 29 October, CEO Joe Creed revealed that sales in the company’s power generation segment jumped 33%, “primarily due to demand for reciprocating engines for data centre applications.” Apparently, there’s already 20 GW of standby diesel in datacentres and the number’s rising rapidly.
Thank you Andrew! And yes, there is for sure a decent amount of un-(or under-) used diesel backup generator capacity. Depending on location, there may be environmental rules (as I understand it...need to dig in further) that may limit the circumstances under which that can be used. Clearly in many emerging markets, its unlikely there would be restrictions.