Power management company Eaton and Microsoft are working together on grid-interactive UPS technology to help electricity grids in the transition to renewable energy.
EnergyAware UPS technology can be used as a distributed energy resource to support grids with high levels of variable renewable energy generation.
The collaboration aims to accelerate applications of Eaton’s EnergyAware uninterruptible power system (UPS) technology in key sectors worldwide. It is part of a new strategic framework agreement between Eaton and Microsoft designed to address major industry developments, including digital transformation, sustainability and the energy transition.
A key element of the strategic framework agreement is the inclusion of Eaton’s proprietary EnergyAware UPS technology in Microsoft projects. The primary function of a UPS is to provide backup power protection for mission critical applications and facilities and to protect them from grid outages or power quality issues. Through close collaboration over several years, Eaton and Microsoft have added digital capabilities to the UPS, which enables it to be used as a distributed energy resource (DER) to support grids with high levels of variable renewable energy generation.
This will allow for a new generation of ‘grid-interactive’ data centres, including those operated by Microsoft, to support grid operators with the provision of critical flexibility services. Selling flexibility into the grid is an opportunity for data centres to monetise underused assets, by providing energy storage, for example, and supplying the fast frequency response services which grid operators will increasingly need as renewable energy capacity increases and the grid loses the inertia associated with fossil-fuel power generation.
Craig McDonnell, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Energy Transition and Digital Division at Eaton, highlights that: “A grid-interactive UPS helps decarbonise energy at grid level, which means its sustainability benefit extends beyond the data centre. This changes the game in terms of energy management within the data centre’s overall environmental impact profile.”
Sean James, Director of Data Centre Research at Microsoft said: “A grid-interactive data centre is one where its extensive electrical system functions not only to protect customer IT data and applications but also to provide valuable electrical services back to the transmission system operator and the grid. These auxiliary services will be increasingly critical to help grids cope with high levels of variable renewable energy.”
For more information visit: www.eaton.com
