Power consumption is undeniably one of the cornerstones of any efforts toward a more sustainable future. We believe that a direct integration of data center infrastructure and renewable energy assets can open a great window of opportunity for all the industry players, while significantly boosting the industry’s sustainability metrics and revamping society’s perspective on the industry as a whole. Direct integration via on-site power production, decentralized renewable energy assets, or centralized Combined Heat and Compute (CHC) not only guarantees a physical delivery of green electrons to the data center, but also helps minimize the pressure on the grid and reduces the losses in the energy chain. Such an alternative is not without its challenges, such as intermittency, backup power, and cost, that need to be addressed.
This paper sheds light on the opportunities and challenges to the genuine decarbonization of data centers.
