NREL tests underground storage facilities of Cold Utes for data center

The National Laboratory for the Study of the U.S. Renewable Energy (NREL) with the support of the National Laboratory of Lawrence in Berkeley (LBNL), Princeton and Chicago Universities presented a project designed to solve the problem of growing energy consumption. The new solution will ensure effective cooling of the data center through the use of underground storage of thermal energy (UTES).

The financing of the project is engaged in the management of geothermal technology (GTO) of the US Department of Energy (DOE). It is believed that it will help accelerate the development and commercial implementation of a new generation of geothermal technologies – with the consolidation of US leadership in this area. Usually, UTES involves heating (or cooling) of the coolant on the surface during natural day or seasonal cycles with its subsequent pumping through underground storage facilities of various types.

According to NREL statistics, up to 40% per annum of the annual date centers account for traditional cooling systems. Cold Utes underground storage will allow the use of electricity outside the peak periods to form the reserves of the “cold” underground. These reserves can be included in the current cooling systems of the data center and used in periods when the load on the mains are maximum, which ultimately reduce energy consumption. NREL believes that the technology is largely similar to the use of conventional batteries, taking into account the most favorable time of their charge/category, which will reduce the operating costs of the data center.

Image source: NREL

It is assumed that Cold Utes can become a commercially attractive and technically viable solution for the data center. The project will confirm the potential of the relevant systems for data center operators, utilities and electric networks operators. Nerl believes that the system can provide both short -term and long -term storage.

A similar project was financed by the Australian government for the Pawsey Center supercomputer in Perth, Datacenter Dynamics notes. T.N. CSIRO GEOTHERMAL Project Provisions of Cold water pumping from a shallow aquifer for cooling a supercomputer. Heated water is returned back to the aquifer downstream. According to estimates, such a system will save about 14.5 million liters of pure water only in the first two years of work.

There are other geothermal options designed to integrate with data center. For example, in 2024, the news appeared that the heat of the supercomputer at Edinburgh University will be pumped into abandoned mines with subsequent use for heating local houses.