Startups brew new chemistries for fresh battery types

Through their public commitments to net-zero carbon emission targets, cloud providers have re-energized talks in the data center sector of a major redesign of critical power systems. The elimination of diesel fuel use is chief among the goals, but the desire for a leaner facility power infrastructure that closely tracks IT capacity needs is also attracting interest. New types of batteries, among other tools such as clean fuels, will likely prove instrumental in this endeavor.

Operators have already started displacing standard valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) banks with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries to refashion data center backup power. According to the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2021, nearly half of operators have adopted the technology for their centralized uninterruptible power supply (UPS) plant, up from about a quarter three years ago. Compared with VRLA, Li-ion batteries are smaller, easier to monitor and maintain, and require less stringent climatic controls (see our Note Li-ion in the data center for more technical details).