RECAP | ROUNDTABLE | Meeting the Challenges of Hot Summer Weather

The Inside Track Roundtable topic Meeting the Challenges of Hot Summer Weather was particularly timely as data center operators in many US and European locations experienced record temperatures in July. One participant noted that he expected not only a hot summer but a long one too due to local fires in the spring.

Uptime Institute Training Director Ryan Orr noted that data center owners and operators should expect to see even hotter temperatures in the future, given recent trends in published ASHRAE design temperatures. He noted that meeting these increased cooling loads could require capacity reductions and even outages if not properly prepared. Other participants noted that they were also concerned about higher energy costs.

Orr observed that designers and owners have three main opportunities to prepare for extreme heat:

1. At the design stage, when design day requirements are developed
   
2. During Level 5 commissioning, when operators and staff test a facility’s systems and learn how they work
   
3. During operations, when a staff puts its knowledge of a facility to work and can develop policies and procedures to prepare for extreme heat

He said that knowing how a facility operates is key to fashioning a workable strategy for dealing with extreme heat. This knowledge includes awareness of less critical loads that can be dropped and temperature setpoints that can be raised.

However, building knowledge by itself is often not enough. Con Edison, the main utility in New York City, recently announced voltage cuts of 8% to meet local power requirements due to higher cooling loads coupled with lower electrical grid capacity, which could be enough to trip some UPS models into battery operation. Situations like this require a robust set of EOPs and site configuration policies to mitigate these risks.