Data centre in a wind turbine wins award

Business news | April 25, 2019

By Nick Flaherty

The WindCORES++ wind turbine project developed by WestfalenWIND IT, Rittal and SICP, won in Category 1 of the German Data Centre Award in the “Ideas and research in relation to data centres” for cloud hosting. The project obtains over 90 percent wind power and is installed and as it is integrated in the base of the wind turbines, it harnesses existing infrastructures and buildings, such as the tower or the existing power grid.

Currently, the Internet consumes around seven percent of the world’s electricity and on average, IT infrastructure accounts for 40 percent of the energy costs arising in data centres. Due to the direct supply with wind turbines, the electricity costs at WindCORES are significantly lower than the market average.

The WindCORES project is particularly concerned with maximizing the footprint of servers in wind turbine towers. Rittal and WestfalenWIND IT will in future be responsible for consulting and planning the implementation of the project and Rittal will also provide the entire data centre infrastructure, including three security rooms, IT racks, air conditioning, UPS and monitoring

Up to 50 IT racks can be installed in just one wind turbine which means it makes better use of the space available as the racks are installed on several stories, raising the cost-effectiveness per wind energy turbine significantly. The solution also delivers further benefits in terms of scalability, risk reduction or needs-based equipment with access systems for comapnies that want to move their IT system to a different location or have it operated by a third-party provider.

“Digital transformation is changing the demands placed on products, availability and resources, and doing so in every industry. Smart concepts for data centres, such as WindCORES, form the basis for this and show how sustainably operable IT infrastructure works,” said Michael Nicolai, Rittal’s Head of Sales IT Germany.