STT Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) has partnered with Iceotope and Schneider Electric to conduct an immersion liquid cooling proof-of-concept (POC) for use in data centres to reduce power and water usage.
STT GDC’s group CTO, Daniel Pointon, said the objectives of the POC were to explore this technology, to “future-proof next-generation data centre builds, and reduce both power and water consumption”.
“This is critical, especially in the face of Singapore’s recent data centre moratorium lift and rising expectations for high-quality, sustainable data centres as the nation strengthens its presence as a regional data centre hub,” he said.
The POC will usee cooling specialist Iceotope’s chassis-level precision immersion technology which uses dielectric liquid as a heat transfer medium, Pointon said.
He added that the liquids used by Iceotope are “touch-safe, non-conductive, non-toxic, non-flammable and non-ozone depleting”.
Iceotope’s CEO David Craig said the company uses the dielectric fluid as a cooling medium instead of air and this “provides higher thermal transfer capacity and improved efficiency”.
STT GDC’s Pointon added that with the prospect of “an all-liquid cooled data centres in the future”, this technology "promises to reduce the reliance on some of the traditional energy-hungry components” of the cooling ecosystem such as chillers and computer room air-conditioning (CRACs) units.
Immersion cooling
Craig said the company’s chassis-level precision immersion cooling solutions “are engineered to cool the whole IT stack, in every use case, from hyperscale to the extreme edge”.
He added Iceotope’s liquid cooling solutions are “100 percent sealed at chassis level” and offer “extreme cooling performance whilst isolating and protecting critical IT from the surrounding environment and atmosphere”.
Craig said that the technology “offers up to 96 percent water usage reduction, 40 percent power usage reduction and up to 84 percent cooling cost reduction”, apart from other benefits.
“We are delighted to be able to share the capability of Iceotope’s chassis-level precision immersion cooling with STT GDC and their customers… we are deploying a liquid-cooled solution that brings game-changing savings in the use of water, energy, and space to enterprises driving towards net zero,” Craig said.
Pointon said this initiative is part of the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, announced in 2021.
He said the ESG includes a commitment by the company to achieve carbon-neutral data centre operations by 2030.
“Today, across various countries, 43 percent of STT GDC’s electricity consumption is derived from zero-carbon renewable sources," he added.
Schneider Electric is supporting STT GDC with its “dynamic cooling optimisation solutions”, Schneider Electric’s secure power VP for Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei Cluster, Michael Kurniawan Iskandar, said.
