New PowerMOD Power System for Modular Data Center Market

GE’s Critical Power this week rolled out its new PowerMOD, which provides increased energy efficiency and greater cost savings, and can be configured with critical power protection and efficiency technologies.

GE’s Critical Power business provides mission-critical applications with end-to-end power product and service solutions that maximize uptime and power efficiency. With the market for modular data centers expected to grow by nearly 33 percent each year over the next five years, according to an  IHS report in 2013; therefore, the market for modular power systems is expected to expand as well. And GE Critical Power with its experience across industry is poised to leverage that marketplace.

With the introduction of the PowerMOD, can see greater efficiency in the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), as well as lower operating expenses. The power module can contain a TLE Series UPS, which provides up to 97 percent power efficiency in double conversion mode and up to 99 percent efficiency in eBoost or multi-mode operation. GE’s efficient TLE UPS system helps lower system energy expenses and power usage effectiveness (PUE). GE PowerMOD provides backup critical power from 200kW to 1,500kW in standard design points, for both 50Hz and 60Hz configurations. Also, operating expenses can be reduced by up to 44 percent through the greater efficiencies of the TLE UPS and the Free-Cooling Economizer, standard features in the PowerMOD. Environmental cooling options for the PowerMOD include direct expansion (DX), chilled water and evaporative/adiabatic.

“GE PowerMOD delivers lower total cost of ownership and higher energy efficiency, and can be deployed on site faster than brick-and-motor data centers,” said Jeff Schnitzer, general manager of GE’s Critical Power business. As owners and operators seek to grow their storage and processing capacity in fixed brick-and-mortar facilities, many are seeing modular data centers as a way to build out new capacity. In a survey conducted by the Uptime Institute in 2012, 41 percent of respondents viewed modular “power and cooling blocks” as part of their current data center expansion strategies. According to the company, GE’s PowerMOD can be deployed in four to five months compared with 24 months for traditional facilities, with capital expense reductions of almost 25 percent.

Liz Cruz, senior analyst in IHS’ data center and critical infrastructure research group, said, “The market for facility containers, or those that provide the power and cooling infrastructure for data centers, has an attractive future due to increased rack densities, which are causing data centers to run out of power and cooling capacity before IT capacity, presenting a unique market opportunity for facility containers. GE’s entry into the modular data center market with a power supply solution signals widening growth for this segment.”

For further updates, follow GE Energy Management and its Critical Power business on Twitter @GE_EnergyMgmt and @GEcriticalpower.