Data Center Sustainability Relies on Water and Power Infrastructure

The data center market in India is booming. Investment in Indian data centers is expected to reach $7 billion in the next three years, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.4 percent until 2022, making it the second fasted growing data center market in the world. Driven by widespread adoption of digitalization, data analytics and data sovereignty laws that enforce localization, the data center market growth in India will need to reach 15 times its current levels during the next seven to eight years to keep up with demand.

To ensure this growth in data centers is swift and successful, it is imperative that developers consider and plan for the role of surrounding power and water infrastructure, explains Harry Harji, associate vice president of global advisory in Black & Veatch’s Asia, Middle East and Africa businesses, in a recent article for CIO Tech Outlook.

As uninterrupted service is a main tenet of any successful data center operation, the reliability and resiliency of surrounding electric grid infrastructure has the potential to critically impact the services rendered by any given data center. In areas where availability of power is questionable, renewable energy can make significant contributions while significantly slashing the notoriously hefty carbon footprints of data centers.

In Asian markets, where coal remains the primary baseload, investment in renewables and onsite generation—especially when paired with microgrids—not only offers power security and sustainability for data centers but also adds to the overall decarbonization of the area as it works to wean off coal.

Equally important to data center sustainability is water infrastructure, writes Harji, explaining that high-quality water is crucial to data center cooling and is indirectly linked to data centers through its role in renewable energy generation. In India, where water availability is often strained, rainwater harvesting systems may be used at data centers to ensure availability and sustainability of water supply.

As data center developers continue to build across India, the sustainability of their operations will rely, in part, on the methods they use to secure adequate power and water. As they take these factors into consideration, Black & Veatch can help guide the way with extensive knowledge and experience in power and water infrastructure development.

“In India, this nexus of reliable power and water supplies – and good connectivity - is not always readily available to data center developers,” writes Harji. “For investors, owners and operators to achieve speed to value, therefore, they should look for delivery partners with proven expertise in each of these individual disciplines and – perhaps most vitally – demonstrable expertise in their efficient integration.”