The end of a year is typically a time for reflection, and to make fresh predictions on the industry in the year to come. Following a year of rising costs, new regulations, and the growing concern with energy and water consumption against ongoing climate issues, Future-tech’s Head of Technical Due Diligence, Mark Acton, shares some of his top predictions for 2023.
Increased Focus on Alternative Fuels
There will be an increased focus on alternative fuels (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO), Hydrogen etc.) this year, for standby generation using reciprocating engines.
Interest in alternatives will reach utility power provision and will include Hydrogen Fuels Cells, Large Battery Systems (BESS), waste digesters and even Nuclear SMRs. These may also increasingly be considered a component of a Micro Grid, supporting a community of interest that includes a data centre, and ideally a suitable customer of the ‘waste’ heat produced by that data centre.
These will not be deployed in 2023, but interest this year will grow.
Data Centre Investment
Data centres will continue to be seen as a top-performing investment asset class by both individual and corporate investors throughout 2023, and the current high levels of interest seen from investors will continue, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.
Cyber Security
There will be a spotlight on cyber security in data centre facility infrastructure and Operational Technology (OT) during 2023, something that has historically gained limited attention.
The increased activity in this area by state-sponsored actors and organised criminals has resulted in a greater awareness of the potential gaps and threats posed, as well as the need to mitigate the risks now being highlighted.
Immersion Cooling
Immersion cooling will continue to be heavily marketed in 2023, with many very fanciful and incorrect claims being made for it. Nevertheless, interest is growing and will continue to do so throughout the year.
PUE & Energy Efficiency
During 2023, there will be an increasing recognition that PUE is not an appropriate proxy for data centre energy efficiency and that there is value in the other standardised KPIs within the ISO/IEC 30134 series of standardised metrics.
Associated with this will be the increased focus on the energy efficiency implications of hosted applications, operating systems, ICT hardware and digital infrastructure generally. This comes with the recognition that digital infrastructure is the real consumer of power and where true energy efficiencies lie, rather than merely the buildings that they occupy.
European Legislation Requirements
In Europe, the impacts of the EU Commission EU Taxonomy and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements will become more apparent, along with the potential impact of the updated Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).
Energy Supply
Energy supply issues will be a dominant theme and ongoing concern during 2023. The effects of the war in Ukraine will clearly have an impact in this area so predictions are difficult, but the suggestion is that after a potentially difficult winter, prices will reduce, and availability will increase over time.
The painful lessons learned in this period will have far-reaching consequences for the data centre sector and beyond, in terms of improved focus on energy efficiency, and alternative primary energy sources.
To discover more of Mark’s 2023 predictions, you can find the full video interview with Joao Marques Lima from JSA here.