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Liquid Cooling: The Emerging Solution for Data Center Heat Management in India
India’s booming data center market demands efficient cooling solutions. Liquid cooling is emerging as the key to sustainable growth, writes Chandana Patnaik.
Industry Perspectives
August 29, 2024
3 Min Read
Image: Alamy
Our world is brimming with data, and this exponential growth has led to a surge in the number of data centers and rack capacity within these facilities. With cooling systems often consuming around 50% of the total energy used by a data center, the need for more efficient solutions is stronger than ever.
Traditional air-cooling methods are gradually becoming inadequate to manage the thermal loads of modern, high-density data centers. With rack densities set to grow beyond 100 kW per rack, liquid cooling is the only viable solution for cooling these high-performance servers.
Liquid cooling enables higher computing densities, optimizing space utilization and costs. By opting for different liquid cooling methods including immersive cooling and direct-to-chip cooling, organizations can reap benefits in multiple ways.
While liquid currently has around 20% share of the global data center cooling market, it is poised for an expected annual growth rate of 24%, according to data from Stratview Research.
Data center operators in India are adopting sustainable liquid cooling technologies
Market Study: Liquid Cooling in Indian Data Centers
When it comes to exploring the potential impact of liquid cooling on data centers, India is an interesting example. The nation’s estimated data center capacity of 1,030 MW is projected to exceed 5,000 MW by 2030.
Many of India’s data centers are concentrated in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Considering these growth projections, India’s data center market necessitates a proactive liquid-ready approach.
Importantly, with water being under severe strain in India, data center operators are adopting sustainable water management practices and water-efficient cooling technologies.
Notable examples of data center liquid cooling initiatives in India include:
The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (NTT), one of the top three global data center service providers, has deployed Liquid immersion Cooling (LIC) and Direct Contact Liquid Cooling (DCLC) technologies in India, marking the first time these technologies have been deployed in a production environment in the country. This deployment has resulted in ~30% improved energy efficiency.
Yotta Group, one of the top Indian data center operators, also claims that Indian data centers with a PUE of between 1.5 and 1.6 can bring down the PUE levels to 1.1 by adopting liquid cooling methods.
Equinix is now set to use liquid cooling in 100 data centers across the globe, including India. The company has also started constructing its upcoming data centers suitable for liquid cooling methods.
Liquid Cooling – A Necessity in India’s Growing Digital World
India’s digitalization wave is driving a massive increase in its data center capacity. The country’s rapid adoption of cutting-edge technologies, including AI, blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality, is further necessitating higher rack densities in data centers, which in turn, significantly increases heat loads.
AI data center racks can consume up to seven times more power than traditional data center racks, underscoring the urgent need for far more efficient cooling solutions.
As data centers continue to grow exponentially and environmental concerns take center stage, the Indian data center liquid cooling market is poised for robust growth, projected to exceed 25% in the coming years and generate over $300 million in revenue by 2030.
In this rapidly evolving landscape, liquid cooling is not just a technological upgrade – it's a critical component in ensuring the sustainable and efficient operation of India’s future data centers.
Chandana Patnaik is a senior content writer at Stratview Research.
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