Do you know where companies keep their data?

In a world which is increasingly connected, storing data in a safe manner isn’t a luxury, but a necessity.

Data Processing Centers (DPCs) or Data Centers are spaces which house great computer equipment, and are key pieces in business infrastructure. These infrastructures tend to be proportional in size to that of the company they are storing data for: the higher the volume of data the company manages the more complex the Data Center and the safer its power supply system must be. The motive? A lengthy power outage can provoke a major catastrophe and millions in losses.

Most medium-sized companies – and of course all large companies – feature evermore modern and complex DPCs. Many occupy great rooms and even whole buildings where all of its computer components, necessary for the storage of information, are located. The correct maintenance of these spaces is vital for their optimal operation and here is where an essential factor comes into play: security.

Each second comes at a cost

These installations must not face a single risk and that’s why it’s so important to guarantee continuous supply under any circumstance. An accident which in other cases may not be too significant, such as a blackout, would cause great damage in a DPC. What would happen if a bank or administration entity lost millions of confidential pieces of data in mere seconds? And this is where, in the security system of a Data Center, emergency generator sets play a crucial role.

Emergency generator sets for DPCs have to be extremely relibale and powerful, two vital conditions to guarantee power supply under any circumstance, such as a fire, mains failure or any kind of accident, as a DPC cannot stop for a single instant. Each second, comes at a cost.

The distributed energy sector, in constant evolution, has provided answers to the particular requirements of DPCs, placing products and services in the market which are also very particular in the sense that they must comply with very specific norms regulated by Uptime Institute, an international organization which certifies exactly how these installations must be designed and classifies them in four levels: Tier I, II, III and IV according to their infrastructure.

Germany, a fulfilled challenge

At Genesal Energy we’re experts in manufacturing such special generator sets and their sucess in projects in which we’ve participated has turned us into references at a national and international level. In Spain for instance, we’ve reinforced the security of numerous DPCs in the peninsula, such as in Barcelona, and also in the Canary Islands, specifically on the island of Tenerife. Internationally, we’ve consolidated our presence in this field through other great projects. An example is the supply of two emergency generator sets for a DPC in Germany, one of the most important Data Centers in Europe.

At a national level, two of our latest projects have taken us to two cities in the North of Spain: A Coruña & Bilbao. In both, we’ve supplied emergency power for two important Data Centers, where a simple power outage can mean the failure of thousands of operations worldwide. The objective of our generator sets is to supply instant power in the event of a mains failure.

Emergency power for two great Data Centers in A Coruña and Bilbao

In the Basque Country we’ve recently participated in the construction of a new and important DPC in Bilbao through two 1250 KVA gensets with a parallel operation system. Our engineers’ solution consisted in two twin gensets with a special base frame adjusted to the client’s spatial requirements.

Additionally, a power outlet cabinet was designed with a specific Cu 50×10 busbar so that the client could connect their power cables. This cabinet, like the control cabinet, was installed according to the client’s needs in order to be able to adapt the units ergonomically to the existing infrastructure.

In the case of the DPC in A Coruña, the generator set we designed needed to be especially silent. To achieve this objective, the genset was installed inside a 20 foot container with external air inlet and outlet baffles, in order to reduce the level of decibels. This was the chosen solution to eliminate acoustic impact on the buildings surrounding the Data Center, which belongs to an important bank operator and is located in an urban area containing numerous offices. In this case, the client needed to increase the capacity and quality of the Data Center with another state-of-the-art genset.

Bilbao Data Center Features

• Engine-alternator assembly painted in the colour required by the client (RAL 7040)
• Motorized breaker
• Adapted power cabinet
• Synchronization system
• Exhaust gas silencer sleeve

La Coruña Data Center Features

• Power cabinet integrated in the soundproof container of the generator set.
• Motorized louvers.
• 1.500L integrated fuel tank.
• Automatic fuel transfer system, connected to the existing installation.
• External colour according to the client’s specifications.
• Air inlet and outlet attenuators of -40Db. Turnkey solution including a great tonnage crane for the installation of the container, as well as fuel installation and night-time commissioning.