A screen shot of the Japan Data Center Council website
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Data centers in the Tokyo-area have so far managed to endure the energy crisis following last month’s massive earthquake and tsunami, but the lack of fuel supply due to the shutting down of nuclear reactors could prove to be taxing during the high demand period of the summer, according to a report by Datacenter Dynamics.
Following the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, the government implemented rolling blackouts to cities in suburban Tokyo after the country’s nuclear reactors were shutdown, in an effort to provide enough generating capacity for the entire country.
As previously reported, the Japanese government said it would give prioritizing power and energy supply to data centers.
Japan Data Center Council (http://www.jdcc.or.jp/), an organization of data center developers and operators in Japan, sent a letter on March 18 to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (www.meti.go.jp) a few days after the earthquake and tsunami, explaining that it could be difficult to provide a sufficient amount of fuel supply to maintain the operation of data centers if the government implemented rolling blackouts.
According to a translation provided by AltaTerra analyst Zen Kishimoto, JDCC wrote in the letter that there are about 50 data centers in Tokyo and its surrounding areas, with each facility requiring 10,000 VA to start up the generator. During this time, about 5,000 to 6,250 gallons of fuel are consumed hourly.
The council points out that with each blackout estimated to last about three hours, it would only take eight blackouts to completely use up many facilities’ on-site fuel supply.
The amount of on-site fuel stored at the data centers ranges from enough fuel to maintain operation for 24 hours to 48 hours.
The letter continues by pointing out that “after eight power interruptions, securing enough fuel would become extremely difficult.”
JDCC went on to say that transporting this amount of fuel would require a few trucks and “if the demand happens at the same time for all the data centers, it would be a logistical nightmare.”
The letter requested the government that the data center sector be be exempt from blackouts utilities have been implementing since the disaster struck to avoid a total power outage.
Kishimoto told DatacenterDynamics that alhough no blackouts have been enforced in the data center area of Tokyo’s metropolitan core, the lack of generation capacity this summer could force the government into a position where it will have to reconsider this possibility.
In a recent report by the Financial Times, TEPCO, the largest utility provider in Tokyo, is said to be able to supply about 10m kW of power shy of the expected demand of 60m kW during peak hours in July and August.
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