IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v194y2020ics0360544220300359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of data centres in the future Danish energy system

Author

Listed:
  • Petrović, Stefan
  • Colangelo, Alessandro
  • Balyk, Olexandr
  • Delmastro, Chiara
  • Gargiulo, Maurizio
  • Simonsen, Mikkel Bosack
  • Karlsson, Kenneth

Abstract

Data centres (DCs) are expected to satisfy the rising demand for internet services. Denmark alone is expected to host several large-scale DCs, whose demand for electricity in 2040 may reach 33% of 2017 national electricity consumption. Understanding the operation and interactions of DCs with energy systems is key to understanding their impacts on installed capacities, costs and emissions. The present paper makes three contributions in this regard. First, we introduce a thermodynamic model that relates the power consumption of DCs to their production of excess heat (EH). Second, the results are scaled up to represent DCs in a national energy-system model for the analysis of different scenarios. Third, scenarios are generated and analysed to quantify the impact of DCs on the Danish energy system until 2050. The results show that DCs might have significant impacts on Denmark’s power and district heating (DH) sectors. First, the power demand from DCs translates into an additional 3–6 GW of offshore wind capacity. Second, EH from DCs is beneficial to the whole energy system, the entire quantity of EH being utilized in four out of five scenarios. EH recovery from DCs is economically beneficial, providing from 4% to 27% of Denmark’s DH after 2040.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrović, Stefan & Colangelo, Alessandro & Balyk, Olexandr & Delmastro, Chiara & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Simonsen, Mikkel Bosack & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2020. "The role of data centres in the future Danish energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220300359
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.116928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544220300359
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2020.116928?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petrović, Stefan N. & Karlsson, Kenneth B., 2016. "Residential heat pumps in the future Danish energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 787-797.
    2. Karlsson, Kenneth B. & Petrović, Stefan N. & Næraa, Rikke, 2016. "Heat supply planning for the ecological housing community Munksøgård," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P3), pages 1733-1747.
    3. Bühler, Fabian & Petrović, Stefan & Holm, Fridolin Müller & Karlsson, Kenneth & Elmegaard, Brian, 2018. "Spatiotemporal and economic analysis of industrial excess heat as a resource for district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 715-728.
    4. Oró, Eduard & Depoorter, Victor & Garcia, Albert & Salom, Jaume, 2015. "Energy efficiency and renewable energy integration in data centres. Strategies and modelling review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 429-445.
    5. Ebrahimi, Khosrow & Jones, Gerard F. & Fleischer, Amy S., 2014. "A review of data center cooling technology, operating conditions and the corresponding low-grade waste heat recovery opportunities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 622-638.
    6. Michael R. Raupach & Steven J. Davis & Glen P. Peters & Robbie M. Andrew & Josep G. Canadell & Philippe Ciais & Pierre Friedlingstein & Frank Jotzo & Detlef P. van Vuuren & Corinne Le Quéré, 2014. "Sharing a quota on cumulative carbon emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 873-879, October.
    7. Maria Avgerinou & Paolo Bertoldi & Luca Castellazzi, 2017. "Trends in Data Centre Energy Consumption under the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Bühler, Fabian & Petrović, Stefan & Karlsson, Kenneth & Elmegaard, Brian, 2017. "Industrial excess heat for district heating in Denmark," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 991-1001.
    9. Ham, Sang-Woo & Kim, Min-Hwi & Choi, Byung-Nam & Jeong, Jae-Weon, 2015. "Energy saving potential of various air-side economizers in a modular data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 258-275.
    10. Depoorter, Victor & Oró, Eduard & Salom, Jaume, 2015. "The location as an energy efficiency and renewable energy supply measure for data centres in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 338-349.
    11. Tattini, Jacopo & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2018. "Reaching carbon neutral transport sector in Denmark – Evidence from the incorporation of modal shift into the TIMES energy system modeling framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 571-583.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kanbur, Baris Burak & Wu, Chenlong & Fan, Simiao & Duan, Fei, 2021. "System-level experimental investigations of the direct immersion cooling data center units with thermodynamic and thermoeconomic assessments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    2. Petrović, Stefan & Bühler, Fabian & Radoman, Uroš & McKenna, Russell, 2022. "Power transformers as excess heat sources – a case study for Denmark," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    3. Stefan N. Petrović & Oleksandr Diachuk & Roman Podolets & Andrii Semeniuk & Fabian Bühler & Rune Grandal & Mourad Boucenna & Olexandr Balyk, 2021. "Exploring the Long-Term Development of the Ukrainian Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Jerez Monsalves, Juan & Bergaentzlé, Claire & Keles, Dogan, 2023. "Impacts of flexible-cooling and waste-heat recovery from data centres on energy systems: A Danish case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    5. Liu, Pengfei & Kandasamy, Ranjith & Ho, Jin Yao & Wong, Teck Neng & Toh, Kok Chuan, 2023. "Dynamic performance analysis and thermal modelling of a novel two-phase spray cooled rack system for data center cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Han, Zongwei & Ji, Qiang & Wei, Haotian & Xue, Da & Sun, Xiaoqing & Zhang, Xueping & Li, Xiuming, 2020. "Simulation study on performance of data center air-conditioning system with novel evaporative condenser," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    7. Kristina Lygnerud & Sarka Langer, 2022. "Urban Sustainability: Recovering and Utilizing Urban Excess Heat," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Chen, Boyu & Che, Yanbo & Zheng, Zhihao & Zhao, Shuaijun, 2023. "Multi-objective robust optimal bidding strategy for a data center operator based on bi-level optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    9. Chen, Xiaoyuan & Jiang, Shan & Chen, Yu & Lei, Yi & Zhang, Donghui & Zhang, Mingshun & Gou, Huayu & Shen, Boyang, 2022. "A 10 MW class data center with ultra-dense high-efficiency energy distribution: Design and economic evaluation of superconducting DC busbar networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    10. Steffen Nielsen & Kenneth Hansen & Rasmus Lund & Diana Moreno, 2020. "Unconventional Excess Heat Sources for District Heating in a National Energy System Context," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Christian Calvillo, 2023. "The Impacts of Energy Efficiency Modelling in Policy Making," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-23, February.
    12. Ji, Haoran & Chen, Sirui & Yu, Hao & Li, Peng & Yan, Jinyue & Song, Jieying & Wang, Chengshan, 2022. "Robust operation for minimizing power consumption of data centers with flexible substation integration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    13. Magdalena Tutak & Jarosław Brodny & Peter Bindzár, 2021. "Assessing the Level of Energy and Climate Sustainability in the European Union Countries in the Context of the European Green Deal Strategy and Agenda 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-32, March.
    14. Mc Guire, Jason & Petrović, Stefan N. & Daly, Hannah & Rogan, Fionn & Smith, Andrew & Balyk, Olexandr, 2024. "Is District Heating a cost-effective solution to decarbonise Irish buildings?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chu, Wen-Xiao & Wang, Chi-Chuan, 2019. "A review on airflow management in data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 84-119.
    2. Shuja, Junaid & Gani, Abdullah & Shamshirband, Shahaboddin & Ahmad, Raja Wasim & Bilal, Kashif, 2016. "Sustainable Cloud Data Centers: A survey of enabling techniques and technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 195-214.
    3. Jerez Monsalves, Juan & Bergaentzlé, Claire & Keles, Dogan, 2023. "Impacts of flexible-cooling and waste-heat recovery from data centres on energy systems: A Danish case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    4. Petrović, Stefan & Bühler, Fabian & Radoman, Uroš & McKenna, Russell, 2022. "Power transformers as excess heat sources – a case study for Denmark," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    5. Huang, Pei & Copertaro, Benedetta & Zhang, Xingxing & Shen, Jingchun & Löfgren, Isabelle & Rönnelid, Mats & Fahlen, Jan & Andersson, Dan & Svanfeldt, Mikael, 2020. "A review of data centers as prosumers in district energy systems: Renewable energy integration and waste heat reuse for district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    6. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Scherer, Thomas & K. Halgamuge, Saman, 2016. "Energy, environmental and economical saving potential of data centers with various economizers across Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1528-1549.
    7. Jodeiri, A.M. & Goldsworthy, M.J. & Buffa, S. & Cozzini, M., 2022. "Role of sustainable heat sources in transition towards fourth generation district heating – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Tattini, Jacopo & Ramea, Kalai & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Yang, Christopher & Mulholland, Eamonn & Yeh, Sonia & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2018. "Improving the representation of modal choice into bottom-up optimization energy system models – The MoCho-TIMES model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 265-282.
    9. Di Salvo, André L.A. & Agostinho, Feni & Almeida, Cecília M.V.B. & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2017. "Can cloud computing be labeled as “green”? Insights under an environmental accounting perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 514-526.
    10. Yin Bi & Yugang Wang & Xiaoli Ma & Xudong Zhao, 2017. "Investigation on the Energy Saving Potential of Using a Novel Dew Point Cooling System in Data Centres," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, October.
    11. Borkowski, Mateusz & Piłat, Adam Krzysztof, 2022. "Customized data center cooling system operating at significant outdoor temperature fluctuations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    12. Cristina Ramos Cáceres & Suzanna Törnroth & Mattias Vesterlund & Andreas Johansson & Marcus Sandberg, 2022. "Data-Center Farming: Exploring the Potential of Industrial Symbiosis in a Subarctic Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, February.
    13. Hyvönen, Johannes & Mori, Taro & Saunavaara, Juha & Hiltunen, Pauli & Pärssinen, Matti & Syri, Sanna, 2024. "Potential of solar photovoltaics and waste heat utilization in cold climate data centers. Case study: Finland and northern Japan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    14. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    15. Antoine Fontaine & Laurence Rocher, 2021. "Energy recovery on the agenda. Waste heat: a matter of public policy and social science concern," Post-Print halshs-02971862, HAL.
    16. Fabian Bühler & Stefan Petrović & Torben Ommen & Fridolin Müller Holm & Henrik Pieper & Brian Elmegaard, 2018. "Identification and Evaluation of Cases for Excess Heat Utilisation Using GIS," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, March.
    17. Li, Jian & Jurasz, Jakub & Li, Hailong & Tao, Wen-Quan & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yan, Jinyue, 2020. "A new indicator for a fair comparison on the energy performance of data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    18. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Abdulla, Khalid & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2018. "Towards the stand-alone operation of data centers with free cooling and optimally sized hybrid renewable power generation and energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 451-472.
    19. Salvucci, Raffaele & Tattini, Jacopo & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Lehtilä, Antti & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2018. "Modelling transport modal shift in TIMES models through elasticities of substitution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 740-751.
    20. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Yundeok, 2016. "Improving energy efficiency of dedicated cooling system and its contribution towards meeting an energy-optimized data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 967-982.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220300359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.