Arizona utility to build 63 MW microgrid for on-demand data center

Dive Brief:

Arizona Public Service (APS) will develop a 63 MW microgrid to power a data center being developed in Phoenix, aiming to boost power quality and reliability to a new type of service provider.
The Arizona Republic reports that despite its high-efficiency design, the microgrid will be powered by diesel generators as well as a new 69-kV enhanced-capability substation being constructed for the project.
Four power lines from three sources will bring power to the Aligned Data Centers (ADC) facility, which offers a unique "pay for use" model in the data center space.

Dive Insight:

APS and ADC are teaming up on a data center microgrid they believe will bring reliable and high-quality power to a new facility near Phoenix. The plan is to build in power redundancy, while also seeking competitive power prices – one of the factors that led ADC to chose the region.

“Our customers will see the benefits of increased reliability and power quality, and it will be more attractive for new businesses to locate to Arizona," APS Director of Technology Innovation Scott Bordenkircher said in a statement. Part of developing the area to support the new data center meant investing in infrastructure upgrades and innovative generation, he said. The associated 63 MW microgrid will boost reliability and security, he said.

The project appears to align with APS's goal to prepare for the "grid of the future." Bordenkircher told Utility Dive earlier this year. This microgrid is one of two that will help APS not only gain a new resource for addressing grid needs, but help create demand by attracting key accounts to its service area with microgrid offerings.

The Arizona Republic reports that the microgrid will be powered by all diesel generation, the utility and data center will share the cost of the generators, and the microgrid will support the APS grid in case of a disruption.

The data center will also utilize a patented heat-removal technology from sister company Inertech, which reduces water consumption by as much as 85%.Coupled with other infrastructure enhancements, Aligned Data Centers is able to gaurantee customers a power usage effectiveness (PUE) score of 1.15, which it says is the lowest in the market. PUE is a measure of how efficiently a data center uses power.

"It is a great opportunity with great benefit to [Aligned] and to the state of Arizona from an economic development perspective, and to customers as a whole by giving us localized generation resources," Bordenkircher told the newspaper. "We will own, operate and maintain everything on those generators," he said. "We can remote start them for other grid purposes."

Construction of the substation is nearly complete, and the on-site generators are expected to be in service soon. The news outlet reports the cost of the project is still being negotiated between the companies.