Following the UK’s commitment to becoming a “world leader” in AI, energy solutions and temperature control specialist Aggreko is reminding data centre operators of the water saving benefits of utilising temporary cooling solutions.

This comes amid concerns that plans to build multiple data centres, forming “AI growth zones” across the country, could place municipal water supplies under further strain. As the development and application of AI grows, data centre rack densities are rising to unprecedented levels, meaning that a singular facility can use between 11 and 19 million litres of water per day.1

Billy Durie, Global Sector Head for Data Centres at Aggreko, believes that operators have an essential role to play in helping the UK achieve its AI ambitions while ensuring long-term water security.

“Plans to construct data centres around the country are undeniably crucial to attracting investment and boosting economic growth. Yet, with water shortages becoming all too familiar, partnered with several sustainability challenges, proactive steps must be taken to avoid sleepwalking into a major water crisis.

“While data centre operations are ramping up, we’re currently staring at a deficit of almost five billion litres of water a day by 2050.2 To reduce the overall impact of such a water-intensive industry, modern solutions, such as dry coolers and closed-loop chillers, are being designed to help data centres mitigate their impact on local water supplies.”

If data centres are refurbished, operators must consider upgrading their cooling system to ensure there is sufficient kW of cooling to meet the growing demand brought by AI. Consequently, closed-loop cooling systems that incorporate chillers or dry coolers are being implemented, significantly reducing water consumption in the process.

Here, a chiller forms the basis of a liquid-to-liquid cooling system, with liquid distributed through a cooling circuit, each supplying coolant to the racks. The heat picked up by the liquid returns to the heat exchanger to the CDU, before being recirculated. Crucially, this method results in little to no water losses, as the system uses a fixed volume of liquid.

Free cooling is commonplace in most European data centres. This process can use dry coolers to take ambient air and chill liquid inside a cooling system.

To facilitate the transition, Aggreko can provide temporary cooling solutions and on-site generation to maintain uptime and reduce the centre’s overall water consumption, alongside supplying the technology needed to test the newly installed cooling system.

Discover more about Aggreko’s services for the data centre sector here: https://www.aggreko.com/en-gb/sectors/data-centres?utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_source=pr&utm_campaign=dcwatershortage