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Digital Realty has partnered with Finning to supply the back-up power installation at its new flagship data centre in Chessington, South West London.

The site includes two 1,440 kW Turn-Key Flex data halls, where Finning has supplied six Cat 3512BHD generator sets in a pod arrangement. Each pod has three generators installed on an N+1 basis, producing a combined power (N) of 3000 KWe.

The new facility offers the latest advancements in efficient data centre design, enabling very effective Power Ulitisation Efficiency (PUE) and 99.999% uptime and above, as well as innovative cooling methods, including outside air free-cooling chillers operating at enhanced temperatures for greater part load and overall power efficiency.

POWER PARAMOUNT
As with any data centre, power availability is paramount and DLR has therefore partnered with Finning once more, thanks to an installation track record of nearly 30 MW at the company’s existing sites in the UK and France. The company's Cat product offer, installed in thousands of installations worldwide, together with its bespoke engineering, quality control standards and installation expertise were also important factors in DLR's choice of supplier.

Each pod contains three 1875 kVA standby diesel generator sets with operator control panel, together with self-contained fuel system and remote cooling. Reducing noise pollution is particularly important, so Finning engineered the package with an air inlet and discharge system and exhaust gas silencers, all sized to achieve levels no greater than 70 dBA within a one-metre radius and with two generator sets running.

DLR has made significant investment in the facility’s cooling infrastructure and so the Finning team ensured that all of the power equipment installed was optimised to reduce parasitic heat transfer; such as jacketing the heat exchanger located in the plant room to minimise heat losses. Each generator set also has its own remote cooler, heat exchanger and circulation pump.

A purpose-built fuel system for each pod consists of a 25,000 litre day tank, serving three, smaller 600 litre tanks acting as a dedicated fill point for each generator. The feed to each day tank is supported by a dedicated duty, standby fuel pump housed in the end enclosure of each above-ground bulk tank.

HIGHLY DEPENDABLE
Commenting on the partnership with Finning, Mike Golding, European construction director at Digital Realty, says: "Interest in our new Chessington facility is high, with a third of the data space leased already. Ensuring that we provide the high efficiency levels required to meet this customer demand requires a highly dependable emergency power infrastructure.

"Having worked with Finning for more than two years and benefited from the company's robust Cat product, engineering expertise and its service capability, it was clear that we should work together on this project to achieve the secure power supply required."

Finning is a well-established provider of mission-critical power solutions to the data centre market. Alongside emergency generator sets for standby power, the company also provides a range of battery and flywheel UPS systems to protect critical data in the event of mains failure, together with control systems for cost-efficient monitoring of system parameters.