Utility Incentive Programs for Data Centers

In August 2006, PG&E became the first utility to offer rebates to business customers that implement virtualization and server consolidation projects. Qualifying customers able to earn a rebate of up to $4 million per project site. PG&E's High Tech Energy Efficiency Incentives program has industry support from VMware, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM and Rackable Systems. The incentives are based on the amount of energy savings achieved through data center consolidation, and PG&E customers in northern and central California must apply for the rebate prior to pursuing a virtualization project. In addition to the rebate, customers can expect to save $300 to $600 in annual energy costs for each server that is removed, the utility said.

Avista Utilities, the utility serving Spokane, Wash., offers rebates of up to $5,000 per rack for customers implementing a chip-level liquid cooling solution from SprayCool. In June outdoor sports retailer Mountain Gear became the first company to participate.

Xcel Energy, which has operations in eight Western states (Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin) offers a custom project program in which business customers (including data centers) can get rebates of up to $200 per kilowatt of demand savings, as well as up to $15,000 towards an efficiency study to identify savings.

Austin Energy, the utility serving Austin, Texas, is planning to introduce a data center program that will include rebates on a variety of efficiency measures, including server virtualization and efficient cooling practices. In the meantime, a review of Austin Energy's Commercial Rebates may uncover savings opportunities within existing programs.

If you can permanently reduce electric demand by at least 20 kilowatts in Con Edison territory, NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) will help pay for capital improvement costs with an incentive of $600 a kilowatt, with a cap of 65% of costs or $1.25 Million per facility. NYSERDA is examining potential incentives for data center procurement and energy management but has not yet finalized any incentives.