At Digital Edge, our founding team share an ambition to raise the standard of digital infrastructure across Asia Pacific, which is why we continuously invest in innovative new technologies that enhance the quality and sustainability of data centers, future-proofing the region's colocation industry. Contact online >>
At Digital Edge, our founding team share an ambition to raise the standard of digital infrastructure across Asia Pacific, which is why we continuously invest in innovative new technologies that enhance the quality and sustainability of data centers, future-proofing the region''s colocation industry.
As the volume of business-critical data and applications hosted in data centers rapidly increases, redundancy is of paramount importance for both operators and end users. To ensure business continuity, data centers today rely on a complex system of lithium-ion batteries or lead acid batteries powering backup generators and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), to guarantee uptime in the event of grid power failure.
These traditional battery technologies come with a number of operational challenges, including the need for regular replacement, long charging times, and a high susceptibility to thermal runaway, potentially resulting in fire, as reported by the Uptime Institute. Meanwhile power-hungry AI and hyperscale deployments are casting greater scrutiny on the importance of energy efficiency and the overall decarbonization of data center operations. Against this backdrop, we at Digital Edge sought to develop a reliable and sustainable alternative for data center redundancy.
To this end, we partnered with Donghwa ES, a South Korean based energy storage company, to develop the Hybrid Super Capacitor (HSC) – a next generation energy storage system that sets new standards for redundancy and safety, and which we believe has the potential to revolutionize data center ancillary power generation. The partnership leverages Digital Edge''s long-standing experience in data center design, construction and operations, together with Donghwa''s energy storage system engineering and design expertise.
The HSC technology offers significant advantages including, a capability of 100,000+ discharge/charge cycles, minimal maintenance needs, a significantly wider operating temperature range, the ability to recharge in minutes instead of hours, and a 2.5 times longer service life. After initial testing of the HSC at one of our Digital Edge facilities proved successful, we now plan to deploy this groundbreaking technology for certain non-critical loads in our upcoming new build data center projects, with a view to potentially deploying the HSC for critical loads in the longer term.
Before we get into the details of the HSC, let''s review what a super capacitor is and how it differs from a battery? In short, capacitors and batteries can both store electrical power and then release it at the time when power is needed. The major difference is that capacitors store power as electrostatic fields, while batteries use chemical reactions to store and release power.
Compared to regular capacitors, super capacitors can store much larger electric fields, and use both electrostatic and electrochemical storage principles to hold electric charge. While offering the same general characteristics as capacitors, they provide many times the energy storage and energy delivery.
Firstly, it significantly benefits operators thanks to reduced maintenance requirements. As for the technical part, the HSC uses a hybrid energy storage method, combining activated carbon from an electric double layer capacitor, with carbon from a lithium-ion battery, reducing the deterioration of the negative electrode compared to other technologies. In short, this enables the HSC to operate for 15 years, or about 2.5 times longer than traditional batteries, resulting in a significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership to operators.
For customers, the HSC offers reliability and reassurance. The HSC has a high power density (or C-rate*), meaning it can be recharged in a much shorter time frame, making it ideal to provide service continuity in the event of consecutive power outages within a data center. Crucially, the HSC cathode uses activated carbon with a double-layer mechanism, instead of the metal oxide used in other batteries. This means the exothermic reactions that may result in thermal runway do not occur within the HSC. In other words, the risk of fire is largely removed, offering further reassurance to data center end users.
Finally, the HSC technology has the potential to support the decarbonization of the data center industry. As demand for higher power density deployments increases, fueled by the rapid rise of AI and cloud computing, the data center industry is searching for new cooling solutions that meet these demands while maintaining optimal energy efficiency. As a result, there is a gradual move to incrementally increase operating temperatures as part of the industry''s wider ESG efforts. As the HSC is designed to withstand much higher temperatures (up to 65°C) than traditional batteries, it doesn''t need to be cooled and is therefore well placed to support this green evolution.
*C-rate is a unit of measurement used to describe the rate at which a battery is charged or discharged relative to its capacity.
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Hybrid Super Capacitor Energy Storage System is a greener and future-proof solution for AI workloads
(Singapore, 28 May 2024) Digital Edge (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd. ("Digital Edge"), one of Asia''s fastest growing data center platforms, has partnered with Donghwa ES, a South Korea-based developer of next-generation power solutions for hyperscale facilities, to develop a next-generation energy storage system that sets new standards for data center redundancy and sustainability. The Hybrid Super Capacitor (HSC) Energy Storage System presents a viable alternative to traditional batteries and has the potential to revolutionize data center ancillary power generation for future AI and hyperscale workloads.
Today, the data center industry relies on lithium-ion batteries or lead acid batteries for back-up generators and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), the vital equipment that enables operators to maintain uptime in the event of a power failure to the grid. However, as demand for higher power density deployments increases, fuelled by the rapid rise of AI and cloud providers, the data center industry is facing increased pressure to improve energy efficiency and reduce the sector''s carbon footprint.
In the search for more reliable and sustainable energy storage, Digital Edge has partnered with Donghwa ES to develop a future-proof alternative to traditional batteries, leveraging Digital Edge''s data center operations experience together with Donghwa''s energy storage system engineering and design expertise. Together, the two companies have developed the HSC Energy Storage System technology; initial testing has proved successful and Digital Edge has confirmed it plans to deploy this groundbreaking technology within certain new-build data centers.
The innovative HSC technology uses a hybrid energy storage method that combines activated carbon, from an electric double layer capacitor, with carbon from a lithium-ion battery to produce a solution that reduces the deterioration of the negative electrode in comparison to other technologies. This enables the HSC to operate for a longer life span, with the estimated replacement cycle at more than 15 years, or nearly 2.5 times longer than other battery products, resulting in a significant benefit to the Total Cost of Ownership.
Crucially, the HSC is designed to withstand much higher temperatures than traditional batteries of up to 65°C, meaning the equipment does not need to be cooled and can thereby help operators to achieve energy savings. This makes the HSC well placed to support energy intensive AI and high power density deployments which require complex liquid cooling, as well as support broader sustainability efforts across the data center industry to incrementally increase operating temperatures and reduce carbon emissions.
The HSC can also be recharged more quickly, in a matter of minutes, enabling it to efficiently handle multiple contiguous power outages within a data center. In addition, it does not utilize metal oxide, meaning the risk of fire due to thermal runaway is fundamentally eliminated, thereby significantly reducing potential fire hazards.
Jay Park, Chief Construction and Development Officer, Digital Edge said, "At Digital Edge we seek to be more than simply a data center operator, but to be a leader that continues to innovate and set new standards that will elevate the entire industry. Redundancy is critical to our customers, so we set out to explore ways to enhance the technology that currently underpins this."
"Partnering with Donghwa, we are proud to have developed the HSC Energy Storage System, which we hope will serve to enhance the safety and reliability of the data center industry, while also supporting our environmental commitments," he added.
Ji-Won Suh, Chief Executive Officer, Donghwa ES said, "Donghwa ES designs and manufactures next-generation energy storage systems and power solutions for hyperscale data centers. With the rapid advancement of AI, power-intensive data centers are growing rapidly. We have a vision to provide complete safety from incidents that can occur due to thermal runaway in the increasingly power-intensive data center industry."
"Through our partnership with Digital Edge, we hope to provide a new energy storage system standard for the global data center industry. In particular, we plan to make joint efforts to deploy energy storage systems to hyperscale data centers in the Asia-Pacific region, which is experiencing the highest growth in the world," he commented.
Headquartered in Singapore, Digital Edge is a trusted and forward-looking data center platform company, established to transform digital infrastructure in Asia. Through building and operating state-of-the-art, energy efficient data centers rich with connectivity options, Digital Edge aims to bring new colocation and interconnect options to the Asian market, making infrastructure deployment in the region easy, efficient and economical.
Digital Edge was founded by a seasoned senior management team with decades of industry experience and an established track record of value creation in the data center, cloud and telecommunications industries in the Asia Pacific region. Backed by leading alternative investment firm Stonepeak, Digital Edge has in excess of US$1 billion in deployed and committed capital, establishing itself as a market leading pan-Asia data center platform. The company provides data center and fiber services across Asia, with a presence in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.
Donghwa ES, a South Korea based next-generation energy storage solution developer and manufacturer, provides complete safety from potential disasters caused by thermal runaway in data centers.
Since 1995, Donghwa ES has produced and delivered more than hundred million energy storage modules over 29 years. Donghwa ES produces innovative energy storage systems for power-intensive hyperscale data centers across Asia with a presence in Vietnam, Japan and Korea.
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