Tariff-aware power management for reducing the break-even time of on-site solar power installation in data center

摘要

The global energy crisis and harmful effects of fossil fuel usage as well as the rapid rate of electricity price growth forces Data Centers (DCs) providers to install on-site Renewable Energy (RE). However, the huge installation investment, as well as fluctuating characteristic, impedes the widespread usage of RE. Reducing the break-even time of the required investment is a reinforcing economic incentive that complements the environmental incentive to further encourage DC Providers to use more RE. This paper takes advantages of an economic opportunity, namely the electricity pricing models, as well as a technological opportunity, namely the distributed Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) systems, to reduce the solar power installation break-even time. Proposed Smart Power Manager Unit (SPMU) optimizes the power load distribution among available power supplies based on available solar power, electricity price parameters and UPS batteries status aimed at using the available resource more economically. Results show that the proposal reduces the break-even time 44% shorter than the conventional method on average.