Converting DCs in Energy Flexibility Ecosystems – CATALYST
MAIN OBJECTIVES
The project adapts, scales up, validates, and deploys an innovative, adaptable technological and business framework aimed at:
- exploiting available DC non-IT legacy assets (onsite RES/backup generation, UPS/batteries, cooling system thermal inertia, heat pump for waste heat reuse) to deliver simultaneous energy flexibility services to multi-energy coupled electricity/heat/IT load marketplaces;
- deploying Cross-DC cross-infrastructures (e.g. heat vs IT) IT workload orchestration, by combining heat-demand driven HPC geographical workload balancing, with traceable ICT-load migration between federated DCs to match IT demands with time-varying on-site RES (“follow the energy approach”);
- providing marketplace-as-a-service tools to nurture novel ESCO2.0 business models. The adaptation and replication potential of CATALYST is demonstrated through carrying out four different real-life trials spanning through the full spectrum of DCs types (fully distributed DCs, HPC, co-location, legacy) and architectures (from large centralized versus decentralized micro-DCs).
Project benefits
The project proved that DCs can play an active role at the crossroad of different energy networks. CATALYST is able to process the monitoring data for DC (energy use, temperatures, battery charge, power absorption, etc.) and to take advantage of the infrastructure’s built-in redundancy as a source of flexibility that can be traded to other important stakeholders (DSO, TSO, consumers, other DCs etc.).
The complete CATALYST solution consists in:
- CATALYST FlexManager & Federator;
- CATALYST FleXchange – Electricity Marketplace;
- CATALYST FleXchange – Heat Marketplace;
- CATALYST FleXchange – Flexibility Marketplace;
- CATALYST FleXchange – IT Load Marketplace;
- CATALYST FleXchange – Marketplace-as-a-Service (MaaS).
