……and the importance of load bank testing and maintenance.

Diesel generators provide a tried and proven alternative source of electrical energy in the event of a mains power failure. In power protection scenarios, they are usually installed with UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) to form a complete protection system. As it takes a while for a generator to start and power up to required load capacity, the UPS is there to support protected loads with battery power until the generator can take over.

Data centres support computer systems and provide data access, computation and hosting for many hundreds and sometimes thousands of customers. If a data centre loses power and suffers downtime – so do its customers! It is even more critical then that in this environment, generators are thoroughly tested, for at least eight hours, under load conditions prior to installation. And there are several things to look out for:

Keeping things cool

The power density within a data centre is often many times greater than it would be in an office of a similar size. Due to the density of computer equipment within, cooling requirements are high. Every 1kW of electricity consumed by each computer requires another 2kW of electricity to keep things cool.

Generator load testing essential

Load testing for generators is essential because most of the time the generator sits idle in situ ready for a mains power failure to engage sophisticated control systems that ensure automatic switch over to standby power. There is no way of knowing, until it happens, without load testing, if the generator will:

a) start up

b) perform and operate correctly when it does, delivering consistent reliable power to maintain servers and ancillary equipment.

But how can you load test a generator without causing disruption and data centre downtime for connected loads?

Ideally, it should be done prior to installation but it can also be done out-of-hours, using load banks to simulate the working load. A load bank is a device that develops an electrical load and applies it to a power source (diesel generator). It can be configured to mimic the operational or ‘real’ load but unlike the real load a load bank provides a contained, organised and controllable load that can be used to test the power source.

Service and Maintenance

Like most engine-based machinery, a generator requires regular and routine service and maintenance, which should also include a full load bank test, to ensure it is kept in pristine condition and that its design life is prolonged.

Riello UPS supplies a range of emergency standby power generators suitable for data centre application from leading manufacturer Elcos Generating Sets. With a small footprint and high fuel efficiency, Elcos generators are ideal for dynamic data centre environments in which space is at the premium and scalability a must. We can also offer a fast lead time and full bespoke build and customisation service, including the construction of shelters, containers and enclosures. Elcos gernators can also be fuelled from bio-fuels. Riello also provides managed maintenance, refuelling and remote monitoring services for Elcos generators.

A few developments of interest on the renewables front this month: first of all, engineers at Highview Power Storage demonstrated their long-awaited and smaller-scale Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) technology. Then, the Co-operative edged closer to its aim of bringing a clean energy revolution to communities across the UK  by pledging funding and support and Tim Yeo, chairman of the Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee, called on the Government to work towards reinstating the UK’s pole position as an exporter of wave and tidal power.

Is liquid air storage the answer to unreliable wind energy?

Earlier this month, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Imeche) became the platform for the launch of the UK’s first demonstrable LAES technology, hailed as the answer to the highlighted weaknesses of wind energy. The fact that turbines produce too much energy when there is heavy much wind and not enough on still days renders them highly inefficient and expensive to operate. Wind farm producers are compensated for switching off turbines in high wind conditions and this is said to have cost the UK consumer £24 million in 2011.

How the technology works is that LAES takes electricity from the grid at peak times, such as on windy days, and uses it to cool air until it liquefies at 196 degrees Celsius. The liquid air is then stored, cheaply and safely, under pressure until it is needed and when brought back to normal temperature it turns back into gas, expands by 700 times and is rushed through a turbine. This then creates electricity, which can be fed into the grid.

UK company Highview Power Storage has been developing the technology in association with Imeche for the past five years and recently completed a successful year-long pilot – the first LAES plant in the world – connected to the National Grid and hosted by Scottish and Southern Energy in Slough, Berkshire, UK.

The energy storage market is said to be worth some $100 billion over the next ten years and could create 100,000 jobs.

Other companies have focused on Battery energy storage using Lithium Ion batteries, which although quick and viable, have been found to be limited and unable to scale to the degree required. Other technologies such as pumped hydro need green belt space and billions of litres of water.

Co-op gives to community renewable energy projects

The Co-operative has pledged £1 million to renewable energy projects run by local communities.

The Community Energy Challenge is an initiative that has set out to summon local community energy co-operatives to come up with ideas for renewable generation. It will offer six to eight of the most ambitious finance and support to get them off the ground.

UK could be the world-leading exporter of wave and tidal power

So say MPs on the Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee. It makes sense, as we are and island nation, that the UK could take the lead when it comes to exploiting the power of the sea but is being number one in the world enough of an incentive to get Government and industry backing?

Earlier this month, the Government was called to increase its support for wave and tidal power in a new report from MPs warning that the country is at risk of repeating mistakes, which allowed it to lose its early lead in the development of the wind power industry.

Currently, seven out of eight full-scale prototype marine energy installations worldwide are in UK waters, making us the current world leader in the development of wave and tidal energy technologies.

Marine power could provide as much as 27GW of capacity in the UK by 2050.

An over cautious approach by the Government, say MPs, may allow other, less risk averse countries to steal the UK’s lead. The industry is worried that Government plans for subsidies for marine and tidal only extend to 2017, thus leaving them vulnerable in the future.

According to The Carbon Trust, the first commercial wave farms are likely to deliver energy costing 38-48p/kWh and the first tidal farms 29-33p/kWh, which will require a subsidy if anyone is to be persuaded to pay the premium tariff required to fund investment payback. Obviously, costs will fall as the technology matures but even so, at those prices it will take a while for this to happen.

Whatever form of power generation your supply is made up of, and if you rely on electrical equipment for your very commercial survival, you will need adequate and reliable power protection and that means a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and generator, or some form of protection and back up system (flywheel UPS, fuel cell, batteries, capacitor). To found out more and view our full range of products and systems, visit Riello UPS’s website.

The future of nuclear energy has always courted controversy but countless research programmes, surveys and studies have concluded that it’s one of the cheapest and safest forms of electrical energy generation, and that is why it’s seen by successive governments as an integral part of UK energy’s future.

A recent survey by three UK universities identified that nuclear power will be key to meeting both future demand and carbon reduction targets and that it is one of the safest sources of electricity – even when radiological consequences of a large accident are taken into account.

As for meeting carbon emissions targets, the research found that this would only be possible with a huge expansion of both renewables and nuclear electricity. By 2020, renewables would have to contribute 55% to the UK electricity mix (the current government target is 15% by 2020) and nuclear 35% by 2035. The study does warn, however, that there are considerable unanswered questions surrounding the expansion of nuclear power including depletion of natural resources, ozone layer reduction, toxicity and health impacts from radiation.

Milestone for UK’s nuclear power programme

Earlier this year, and following four years of intense consideration involving more than 60 scientists, engineers and regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency granted interim acceptance to the generic designs for both EDF and AREVA UK’s EPR reactors and Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor.

A number of issues and questions have come to light in recent years, particularly in relationship to nuclear safety and these and more were brought into sharp focus by Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011.

The grant for interim acceptance is an important milestone for UK’s nuclear power programme in that it confirms that all the plans on how the industry will resolve the outstanding issues are in place. However, no reactor will be allowed to be built until all the issues have been resolved and this is now in the hands of plant designers.

Fukushima ready to be decommissioned

It has been confirmed that Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant has been stabilised following the earthquake and Tsunami disaster back in March 2011, which means decommissioning can now begin.

The nuclear reactor has reached a state of cold shutdown, which brings an end to the “accident phase”. It will be a long time before the area fully recovers, which reinforces the need for nuclear investors to have in place a contingency fund for the decommissioning of UK plants in the event of a disaster.

China invests in nuclear future

Meanwhile, in support of its burgeoning economy, China is investing in new nuclear with the country aiming for an increase of up to 300GW of power through nuclear coming online within the next 10-20 years (according to a report in China Daily).

The cost of such an increase will be the equivalent of approximately £81 billion.

Safety aside, no method of power generation, distributed through a grid system is ever going to be 100% reliable or a clean source of energy so the need for power protection will only increase in line with our reliance on electrical appliances, devices and equipment. Riello UPS’s website has lots of information for customers, specifiers and power protection resellers, on UPS products, solutions, applications, equipment and services.

Anyone visiting their favourite trade publications, news sites online or flicking through the pages of the latest industry publications cannot fail to have noticed the number of column inches devoted to Cloud Computing. But what exactly is it and why should UPS providers, resellers and customers pay attention to the cloud?

In this blog post, I offer a few of my own insights:

Firstly, what is cloud computing?

Traditionally, companies have developed, hosted and supported software applications and had computer systems onsite. Employing software such as Microsoft’s platform and Office applications entailed purchasing several hundred licences (depending upon the number of employees using the software) and installing it on each PC or usable device. It worked but created headaches every time a major upgrade was required and managing, administratively, security patches and bug fixes was problematic and a drain on resources. Along came Client Server computing, in which a central server became the overall hub of software applications which users accessed through what became known as thin clients. Thin because they held few (if any) software application of their own, their primary purpose was to enable access to the central server and then utilisation facilities (keyboard and mouse) in order to use the software held on it.

As companies have grown, data storage and retrieval have also become costly to manage in-house. Cloud Computing delivers computing as a service, which is then paid for by customers on a per-use basis, much like a utility.

Cloud Computing provides software applications, computation, data access, management and storage facilities to businesses and users without them even knowing the location or any other details of the actual computer infrastructure that is providing the service. The applications they use could be running on a server in Brazil, while their data could be stored in a data centre in Switzerland. Users access software applications using web interfaces or mobile apps. Popular social media sites and services such as Facebook and Twitter are all examples of Cloud-based services.

The advantages to end user businesses, particularly large commercial operations, is that cloud computing enables them to cut costs considerably in terms of computer resources. New software applications can be up and running within days rather than months (or years of development as has been the case historically). Manageability of computer resources is also easier and less costly, maintenance requirements are reduced and IT resources can be adjusted and expanded to meet fluctuating or unpredictable business demand easily.

As a concept, cloud computing has been around since the 1960s but as a commercial service, it is still in its infancy, although attracting much interest. Data Corporation in 2009 predicted that interest in cloud services would rise at an annual compound rate of 26% between 2009 and 2013. Forrester Research in 2010 indicated that cloud would appeal primarily to SME businesses (Small to Medium Enterprises) with 51% planning to pursue cloud infrastructure services.

So, what does Cloud computing mean for the UPS industry?

With fewer businesses deploying their own computer services and turning to the cloud, UPS providers and installers could see a downturn in business from customers other than data centres. But this would be offset by the upturn in business from the IT sector – growth in data centre business for many power protections companies has quadrupled in the past five years.

But rather than a downturn or upturn in business, I think the primary difference cloud is making to the UPS industry is in the actual equipment and products that are being demanded by the market. We are still seeing calls for the large-scale and industrial-type UPS products like Riello UPS’s Master MPS but from high-end data centre customers. Commercial operations that are not necessarily IT businesses but that rely on computer systems to run are demanding energy efficient and flexible power protection systems that can be right-sized for today but easily expanded in the future (modular UPS like Riello UPS’s Multi Guard) and that offer a variety of operating modes, greater efficiency and lower lifetime costs. Whether they turn to the cloud or not, these businesses still need (even if it’s only basic) some form of computer system and network to enable employees and user to access cloud applications using whatever device (PC, Laptop, Smartphone, Tablet) they have. The type of UPS they need may be changing because of the influence of the cloud but not their need for power protection. If anything, greater reliance on electronic equipment and communications in business will continue to drive up the need for power protection.

Power Protection Reseller and the Cloud

Power protection resellers could do worse than get themselves ‘genned up’ on cloud computing and develop cloud-specific product offerings and service packages, segmented for different markets. Better still, if they are already a specialist in a particular segment such as education, retail, local authority, they can help customers turn to the cloud by offering industry-specific advice and solutions.

Installers and the cloud

Power protection installers, too, need to be aware of the technical aspects of cloud computing such as service and deployment models, platforms, architecture, security issues and standards that will influence power protection installations and the type, topology and size of UPS products that will be installed.

Power Protection Customers and the cloud

It’s very easy to get excited about potential cost savings, better utilisation of IT resources, greater efficiency overall and achieving environmental ambitions but before leaping to the cloud, customers should consider what effect the move will have on energy use and the need for power protection. It may be that turning to the cloud will render existing UPS systems redundant, in which case re-deploying them elsewhere in the business or trading them in for newer, more efficient and flexible solutions could be the answer. It may also be that the cloud increases your need for power protection by enabling you to offer computer access and cloud-based service and applications to a far greater number of users – or even customers – and in so doing uptime and availability becomes even more critical. For smaller businesses utilising the economies of scale that cloud offers, this could be their first foray into needing to consider power protection.

Whatever stage you are with it, and no matter which point of view you approach it from, cloud is coming and it will have a profound (if at times hair-raising) influence on the way computing is done in the future. Confident early adopters can be the trailblazers, setting the agenda, while the more cautious sit back and observe issues getting ironed out.

At Riello UPS we have been gearing up for the cloud for some time and developing the kind of products and solutions that will take customers to the next stage while ensuring a continuous source of clean power. Some of our next generation, cloud-friendly products for large and small organisations include flywheel UPS, modular and eco UPS and high-end data centre solutions for data centres.

Still in Turmoil after Latest Court Decision

Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the High Court’s decision (made earlier in January 2012) that the UK Government’s attempt to cut the Feed-in Tarriff (FiTs) subsidy before the end of its consultation period was illegal.

Rather than accepting the decision as final, however, DECC is considering its options – including lodging an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Many in the UK Solar industry are worried it will lead to many more months of second-thoughts and tentativeness from home and business owners thinking of installing Solar.

In a report on www.businessgreen.com last week, Energy and Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne is quoted as saying:

“……we cannot rule out the possibility that lower tariffs could be applied to installations which became eligible for FiTs on or after the proposed reference date. It is important consumers are aware of this.”

A Government spokesperson stated that the Government is very clear that from the 1^st April 2012, all tariffs will be 21p/kWh.

Last November, DECC announced that as of the 12^th December 2011, the Feed-in Tariff would be reduced to 21p/kWh on all installations, thus throwing the UK Solar industry into chaos and resulting in cancelled contracts, redundancies and bankruptcies.

Legal action was announced when Friends of the Earth, Homesun and Solarcentaury got together to take the Government to court over its decision. In December, the High Court ruled against the Government’s decision. DECC then mounted an action with the Court of Appeal, which was also unsuccessful.

Riello is continuing to promote Solar energy as a viable and cost-effective option for the future of power generation. Riello UPS supplies AROS solar inverters from 1.5 to 500kW for residential and commercial applications. They are fully customisable and can be monitored via the equipment we supply. For more information, visit our website.

When energy saving is not a priority for commercial companies

I read an article in the trade press last week about North London football club Tottenham Hotspur cutting its carbon emissions by 400 tonnes in a single year and at the same time implementing energy saving methods that resulted in the club being around 25% cheaper to run. It got me thinking: much as businesses (and business owners in particular) like to be ethical, it’s that last bit – the 25% cost saving – that spurs (pardon the pun) them on to take energy saving seriously.

But is it possible, as commercial organisation, to maintain high standards of quality and customer service while saving energy? This is a special dilemma for power protection customers whose primary need is to provide a continuous source of critical power and ensure business continuity in the face of potential power cuts and power problems. Can energy saving really become a priority for them?

The Premiere League club has been working in conjunction with the 10:10 scheme, an organisation set up by film director Franny Armstrong in 2009 after making the iconic climate change film, starring the late, great Pete Postlethwaite as a man living in the devastated future of 2055, looking back at old footage from our time and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

10:10’s premise, rather than aiming at staggering targets favoured by ambitious policy-makers of 80% carbon cuts by 2050, is to try and get everyone to aim for 10% carbon reductions per year?

Tottenham employs high-powered sun lamps to keep the turf at its White Heart Lane ground in premier league condition all year round. Giant banks of flood lamps are also used to illuminate the on-pitch action on gloomy winter days or evenings. The club reduced its hefty electric bill by firstly replacing 136 high-powered lights with energy efficient models and although it worked out as a six-figure investment, it is this that has enabled the 25% reduction in running costs.

New lighting controls, including time switches and motion sensors have also helped save on energy. Heating controls on training ground washing machines were deployed, alongside push taps to help save energy and water. The club also analysed and revised its transportation needs to lessen its carbon footprint and now directors take public transport to away games instead of private jets. Fans are playing their part to: after a big publicity push, the majority arrive at matches by public transport rather than private car.

Working alongside The Carbon Trust, 10:10 has developed an Energy Saving checklist offering simple tips to business such as:

• Make someone within your organization responsible for energy saving initiatives and ask them to draw up an action plan.

• Measure, log and analyse how much energy you are using and where it is being guzzled. Energy bills may not give you enough information and you may want to look into some form of energy management.

• Conduct an energy walk round, which will not only confirm the second point but give you a visual picture of where energy is being used in your business.

• Upgrade business critical equipment – old equipment is much less energy efficient and will guzzle far more power than new or modern appliances.

• Switch off lights once there is enough daylight to work by, or in rooms or areas that are not being used. This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised at how many lights stay on in empty toilet cubicles all day!

There are ten tips in all and I won’t include them all but this one is a particular favourite:

• do not locate photocopiers in air-conditioned areas as the heat it will produce will make the air-conditioning work harder and user more electricity.

So, the answer to my earlier question (it would seem) is a resounding “Yes”. If you would like information about energy saving eco UPS, visit our website.

The subject of renewables has taken up quite a few column inches in the press over the past couple of week, particularly Wind Power.

According to statistics for the third quarter of 2011, released just before Christmas by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the amount of fuel made in the UK dropped by 20%. Renewable energy sources, however, generated 9% of the UK’s electricity from July to September. Hydro energy saw the largest increase in that quarter, jumping 41.3% as a result of higher rainfall.

Combined with the first three quarters of 2011, the statistics show an increase of 64% in the amount of electricity generated by offshore wind than in the same three quarters of 2010 – despite increased activity from anti-wind protestors. The increase was all due to offshore wind generation. Onshore wind generation was down by 2.4%.

Meanwhile, energy provider E.ON is reinforcing its interest in renewable energy and offshore wind farms in particular by investing €7 billion over the next five years. One of the first projects using part of the cash to be built will be the Amrumbank wind farm in the German North Sea, which is aiming to supply 300,000 households with green electricity.

E.ON is also currently building the London Array in the Thames Estuary, off the UK coast, which when complete will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm so far.

Riello provides a range of power protection solutions for use in renewable energy applications alongside uninterruptible power supplies. For more detail visit our website.

Supergrid Across Europe Needed to Revolutionise Renewable Energy

Europe is the world leader in renewable energy generation but to overcome the problem of supply reliability, without having to resort to traditional fossil fuelled power stations, a Europe-wide supergrid is required to link several diverse sources of renewable energy onto one electrical grid. When a wind farm cannot supply power on a windless day, a solar farm might be able to compensate, for example. It would also reduce power prices for consumers and make supplies more secure.

Such a grid, however, requires long-term thinking, joined up international politics and huge investment, which is unlikely in the current economic climate.

Security of electricity supply can be mitigated by installing UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and an alternative source of onsite standby power, such as a diesel generator. There are many different types of system to suit every different sort of application, criticality of load and financial budget. More information is available on Riello’s website.

It looks like controversial American entrepreneur Donald Trump’s plans for redeveloping a site on North East Scotland’s coast have been thwarted by the proposed installation of eleven wind turbines in Aberdeen Bay.

Mr Trump met with opposition from locals when he revealed plans some years ago to buy land, and a section of coastline in the area, to build a high-end, luxury golf course, grand hotel and executive housing. His plans were subsequently approved and building has started on the golf course.

BBC News Scotland reported that work has now halted on the development as Trump awaits the outcome of planning approval for the Wind Farm installation. Mr Trump has said openly and in a letter to First Minister Alex Salmond that the turbines would spoil the sea views for his customers.

The European Offshore Wind Development Centre is a £150m joint venture by utility company Vattenfall, engineering firm Technip and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.

The plans took a step forward this week when councillors approved the consortium’s submission to Marine Scotland.

Wind farms on land can be unpopular. Many home owners view them as ugly, a blight on the landscape, noisy and unpleasant, which is one reason why basing them out at sea makes sense. At Riello UPS, we are keeping an open mind about all manner of renewable energy sources, particularly solar, as a key part of the future of energy generation and power protection.

Scottish Wind Farms Receive Record Constraints Payments

Wind power has received mixed coverage of late. First of all, Scottish online newspaper Scotsman.com ran an article last week reporting that wind farm operators in Scotland received more than £14 million in the past two years in return for switching off their turbines at times of high power generation.

To balance things out, however, the story was brought to light by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a charity that has publicly spoken out in the past against wind farms.

REF released information that said that since 2010, a system of ‘constraint payments’ has been operated by The National Grid to compensate wind farms if they are taken off the grid when it cannot cope with high supply.

A spokesperson from Scottish Renewables stated that constraints payments are paid to all electricity generators, including coal and gas power stations and not just wind farms. Such payments are a standard practice in that suppliers are paid not to generate at times of lower than expected demand or when there is congestion on the grid.

At Riello UPS, we see renewables, of all types, as a key part of of the future energy generation landscape and are continuing to develop products and solutions that enable customers to take full advantage of those technologies alongside ensuring power protection for critical applications.