The Uptime Institute’s Annual Outages Analysis 2023 has been released and when it comes to backup power, the message is clear: “Generators are reliable, but require regular scheduled maintenance, fuel checks and testing.”

This advice comes after the Institute’s 2023 resilience survey revealed that just under a third of operators experienced a major outage at their site caused by a power problem in the last three years. This figure was similar to that in 2022, meaning little has improved in how data centres maintain their generators.

Paul Brickman, Commercial Director for Crestchic Loadbanks, comments:

“UPS failure is the single biggest cause of power outages for the data centre market, by some distance, and industry bodies like the Uptime Institute have been banging the drum for regular generator maintenance and testing for many years.

“The latest research shows that very little improvement is being made into the number of power failures happening, which means more action is required to reduce these avoidable and financially crippling outages.”

The cost of outages is increasing

Power outages are usually sudden and binary. They can be site-wide and have an immediate impact on service delivery.

According to the Uptime Institute, restoration of power can be quick, but in many instances, it can take hours to restart IT systems and fully synchronise databases. This loss of equipment can mean data centres operate outside SLAs until full replacements are installed.

A massive 40% of power outages are caused by UPS failure and, according to the 2023 analysis, they are now costing more than ever. Based on the Uptime Institute’s last global survey, a quarter of respondents said their most recent outage cost more than $1 million in direct and indirect financial losses.

A further 45% said their most recent outage cost between $100,000 and $1 million – a figure that is increasing.

Why is the cost of outages increasing?

The Uptime Institute cites a number of contributory factors, including inflation, fines, SLA breaches, the cost of labour, emergency call-out charges, and replacement parts. The biggest single reason, they say, is the growing dependency of corporate economic activity on digital services and on data centres. This is because the loss of critical IT services almost always instantly translates into disrupted business and lost revenue, which can include compensation, fines and lost business with costs running into the tens of millions of dollars.

In fact, the Uptime Institute professes to not calculating an average outage cost, because the business and outage impacts are so varied that each year a handful of outages will be so large, they distort the entire picture.

The price will continue to rise

The economy’s reliance on digital services will continue to increase, and with it a reliance on stronger SLAs could make outages even more financially crippling. Higher regulatory fines and increased compensation for customers that are affected by service disruption will further increase the impact.

Prevention is better than cure

With the cost of outages set to increase further, and evidence proving that not much headway is being made in the prevention of power supply-related outages, data centre operators should heed the Institute’s warning and uphold regular scheduled maintenance, fuel checks and testing.

Paul adds, “As the Standard bearer for Digital Infrastructure performance, the Uptime Institute has made it clear that backup generators must be well maintained and fit for purpose. To achieve this, data centres should use load banks according to some simple best practice guidelines to ensure that should an outage occur, the power remains on.”

Best practice tips for scheduled load bank testing

Test annually when using resistive-reactive load bank testing

All generators should be tested at least annually for real-world emergency conditions using a resistive-reactive 0.8pf loadbank. All gensets (where there are multiple) should be run in a synchronised state, for 8 hours. Where this isn’t possible, they should be run for a minimum of 3 hours.

Test 2-4 times per year when using resistive-only load bank testing

Where a resistive-only load bank is used, testing should be increased to 2-4 times per year at 3 hours per test. In carrying out this testing and maintenance, fuel, exhaust and cooling systems and alternator insulation resistance are effectively tested, and system issues can be uncovered in a safe, controlled manner without the cost of major failure or unplanned downtime.

Why is resistive-reactive the best approach to generator maintenance? 

Capable of testing both resistive and reactive loads, this type of load bank provides a much clearer picture of how well an entire system will withstand changes in load pattern while experiencing the level of power that would typically be encountered under real operational conditions.

Furthermore, the inductive loads used in resistive/reactive testing will show how a system will cope with a voltage drop in its regulator. This is particularly important in a university where generators will run in parallel should blackouts occur, where a problem with one generator could prevent other system generators from working properly or even failing to operate entirely. This is something which is simply not achievable with resistive-only testing.

Begin scheduled generator maintenance today

The Uptime Institute advises regular, scheduled maintenance of testing for all generators. For support implementing a schedule, or to find out more about the right load banks for your specific requirements, contact the Crestchic team today.

The post UPTIME INSTITUTE ADVISES REGULAR SCHEDULED GENERATOR MAINTENANCE appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Findings from Uptime Institute’s 2022 Global Datacentre Survey highlight the fact that downtime in the data centre industry is becoming increasingly expensive, with the main cause identified as power failures. 

The report focuses on responses from more than 800 owners and operators of data centres, including those responsible for managing infrastructure at the world’s largest IT organisations. While sustainability, efficiency gains, staff shortages and supply chain issues also dominate the report, the issue of power resiliency remains dominant. 

$1m+ failures increasingly common

Data indicates that the costs of outages are on the increase. 

A quarter of respondents reported that their most recent outage cost more than $1 million in both direct and indirect costs. This is a significant increase from 2021, reflecting a continuing upward trend over the last five years. 

The report states, “Uptime’s 2022 annual survey findings are remarkably consistent with previous years. They show that on-site power problems remain the single biggest cause of significant site outages by a large margin.”

Backup power failure identified as the number one issue 

Further analysis in related research from the Uptime Institute identifies the biggest causes of power-related outages to be uninterruptible power supply failures, followed by transfer switch (generator / grid) and generator failures. 

Paul Brickman, Commercial Director at Crestchic Loadbanks, commented: “Although the data shows a trend towards improved outage rates, the frequency is still much too high and, with costs also on the rise, the consequences are getting worse. Data centre operators are well aware of the impact of a power outage and have measures in place to mitigate these risks. However, with backup power failures identified as the primary cause of power outages, as well as external issues around grid reliability, energy shortfalls, and the transition to more sustainable power sources, it has never been more important that operators test their backup power systems.”

Using a load bank to commission or regularly test the back-up power system not only tests the prime movers and the batteries (UPS), but ensures all other components such as the alternator and crucially the transfer switches are tested too. A load bank test not only proves that the UPS / generators will start, operate and run efficiently in the case of a power outage, but also that the sets can be safely turned off with no interruptions when mains power is restored. 

Paul concludes, “In a data centre environment, the business case for using a load bank is clear cut – not testing is an extremely costly risk to take.”

For more information on how load banks can offer increased power reliability in a data centre environment, please get in touch via our contact page.

The post Power failure is number one culprit in spiralling datacentre costs appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Equally important is whether the load bank will be used indoors or outdoors. Load banks work by dissipating energy as heat, making it vital that there is space around the equipment for proper airflow, or that the correct type of equipment, such as a vertical blow machine, is used. When used indoors, it is critical that temperatures are monitored to prevent accidental activation of sprinkler systems, overheating or damage to the load bank.

Finally, it helps your supplier if you let them know if the load bank will need to be installed or delivered above ground level, as well as the distance it will be located from the generator. This will ensure that your supplier provides adequate manpower and cabling to successfully carry out testing.

Tomorrow’s focus: Working from generator nameplates and data tags

The post Load Banks – Day 3 of 5 – Where will the load bank test take place? appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Steven Bacon will undertake market positioning research and look to further establish our data centre focused load testing business in Texas, over the coming year.

Chris Caldwell, Managing Director at Crestchic, said: “We’re delighted with the appointment of Steven to this role. His in-depth sector knowledge comes from many years within power generation companies. He has already displayed an insatiable appetite to push Crestchic’s market leading load testing products into the hands of potential clients; desperate for a solution that meets their exacting needs.”

Steven, who refers to himself as a life-loving family-man, has always had a passion for helping people get where they want to go in life.

Steven added: “My career has seen me in many sales leadership roles, and I am incredibly excited to move forward with Crestchic.   Their reputation and market share are growing rapidly across the US, and this fact alone gives me the confidence to know that I am promoting a company who understands their client’s needs, and has tried and tested solutions that address them.”

Crestchic’s US office can be contacted on +1 (610) 458-8182 or via the website at www.crestchic-usa.com

The post Steven Bacon welcomed at Crestchic USA as new Business Development Manager appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Chris Caldwell, Managing Director at Crestchic, said: “Wodan has an incredible track record of sales success across a multitude of industrial sectors. I’m therefore delighted to welcome him to our team and know that this is yet another positive step forward for the company’s ambitious expansion strategies.”

Wodan’s appointment follows news about the 2000 square metre expansion of Crestchic’s factory in Burton on Trent, allowing the company to meet and exceed the increased demand from the market.

Wodan de Quick added: “It’s an exciting time to be working at Crestchic and I’m already feeling the incredible buzz surrounding the future of the company. I have held management positions within Aggreko and Atlas Copco, especially in operations, production, maintenance, service, rental business and QHSE. I’m keen to bring all my experiences and knowledge to Crestchic, and as a forward thinking result orientated person, I love to exceed expectations through teamwork and collaboration. I truly believe nothing is impossible.”

Crestchic has been operating for over 30 years’ in the load testing arena, garnering an incredible reputation for delivering world leading products and services to some of the biggest industrial clients around the world.

The post Wodan de Quick appointed as Crestchic’s new European Rental Director appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

The post Crestchic co-sponsoring Mixing IT on 30th September appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

As power consumption increases and the addition of more server technology generates additional heat, it is becoming more important that new data centres accurately test the infrastructure of the server hall. On the whole, this is done before the installation of the IT hardware, allowing operators to simulate the potential airflow and heat in the server hall as part of the testing and commissioning of the facility. Failing to do so could result in the servers overheating, causing unnecessary and expensive downtime.

Paul Brickman, from Crestchic Loadbanks, explains, “Heat load testing data halls is really important both in ascertaining the air conditioning capacity required and in terms of testing how the system would perform in the event of a cooling failure. In smaller data centres, in particular, it’s not unusual for operators to use small-scale heaters or fans to simulate server heat loads. Crucially, by using server emulator load banks, we are able to replicate the heat signature of the actual server, not just in kilowatts but in terms of the airflow and distribution around the hall. We emulate the exact heat distribution – helping to identify and eliminate hot spots – enabling testing to be equally distributed around the room just as it would be at installation.”

For large data centres, using small floor standing heaters can be a manual and time-consuming process, with unreliable results. As well as being cumbersome, this type of test can make it difficult to accurately control the test parameters. Using a server emulator load bank, in multiple rack configuration ensures an accurate heat signature that the future servers will produce. This allows the commissioning engineers to replicate the actual heat load to thoroughly test the server hall air conditioning output and performance.

The 6kW server emulator load bank from Crestchic can be integrated into a temporary rack or ideally the rack that will be used for the servers installation, as this will ensure all the electrical distribution up to the server is energised and tested in the commissioning process. The load banks can be configured with six different load steps and an operating temperature of between -10C and 50C, allowing test parameters to be set according to user requirements. The system has also been built with safety in mind, with thermal overload protection as standard.

Paul continues, “Hypercsale data centres can rapidly increase and decrease in size. Understanding the potential heat load when running at full capacity means that the centre has evidenced that it is capable of meeting any agreed KPIs, protecting the operator’s reputation and meeting the core design principles of industry bodies such as the Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard.”

Crestchic is no stranger to the development of bespoke solutions for the data centre market. Along with a range of long-established rental and permanent solutions designed for testing of back-up power generators, the company has also recently launched a trailer-mounted loadbank. The solution, which allows sites to move the load bank from one generator to another, was designed to meet the ever-growing number of sites with multiple generators, reducing the time and complexity of the testing process by facilitating easy movement of the testing equipment.

Crestchic’s server emulators are available for rental throughout Europe.

For more information about Crestchic’s range of load testing solutions for the data centre market, including the new server emulator load bank, visit our data centre page.

To buy or hire a load bank for your facility, contact our team here.

Please click the relevant country If you need a solution local to you: France   Germany   Middle East    USA

The post Crestchic Loadbanks expands its range of solutions for the data centre market appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Increasingly, data centre companies are pushing for trailer mounted solutions – especially hyperscale data centres which can have 20 – 30 or even 40 generators on a single site. Crestchic’s trailer-mounted load banks with cable storage and deployment provide a cost-effective solution for easier mobilisation and demobilisation of equipment around site. This in turn allows a more flexible / structured commissioning and maintenance programme onsite.

This load bank can be controlled by either Crestchic’s dedicated LC80 rugged tablet controller or a standard PC over super-fast, interference free fibre optic cable. It also incorporates our new NOVA/ORION control system, which is proving a real hit with customers!.

To read more about this market leading offering from Crestchic, please click here.

Please click the relevant country If you need a solution local to you: France   Germany   Middle East    USA

If you require a quote for a load bank package, please contact us here: Contact Form

The post Data Centres: Trailer mounted load bank is a 4-wheeled wonder appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

Electricity under lockdown
Life under lockdown has led to a shift in the daily routines of millions of people. Offices with banks of computers and power-hungry air conditioning are closed, factories are operating on a skeleton staff or are temporarily shut, shops and commercial centres are on lockdown. The electrical demands of commercial and industrial settings have lessened significantly. At the same time, the lockdown has shifted the demands of consumers. Data suggests we’re getting up and staying up later, shifting our patterns of energy consumption along with our body clocks, while the massive increase in subscriptions to the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus is also evidence of the trend towards increased power consumption during the evening.

This pattern is being borne out by electricity networks across the globe. In New York, power consumption during the morning rush hour has fallen by as much as 18%, while Japan has recorded a 5% drop in power use during weekdays. In the UK, the National Grid has warned that record low demand for electricity during the coronavirus lockdown could see supply outstrip demand which, in turn, could lead to blackouts.

Why is fluctuating demand an issue?
It stands to reason that blackouts are likely to occur when the demand for electricity exceeds supply. Conversely, too much electricity can also be a problem, causing the frequency on the grid to rise and potentially causing damage to infrastructure as well as problems on local energy grids. The combination of high levels of power generation and low demand can also reduce the energy system’s resilience to sudden changes in frequency, which can lead to temporary blackouts.
In April 2020, just as the UK government announced the extension of lockdown plans, National Grid published a statement which suggested that demand for electricity could fall 20% below normal levels, potentially leading to an oversupply of electricity and subsequent issues with continuity of power. Put simply, the UK may experience blackouts.

Balancing supply and demand
Historically, power in the UK has been supplied by a small number of large power stations, such as coal or nuclear. These huge power generation plants are inflexible, taking hours to shut down safely, reducing their ability to make any fast changes to supply. As supply evolves and the world switches towards greener and more sustainable sources of power, there is even more variability in supply – bringing with it further fluctuations along with an ability to be more responsive to change.

Flexible windfarms can power down quickly, switching off at short notice to avoid overwhelming the grid. Hydropower also offers a solution, harnessing excess energy to pump water into lakes into order to effectively stem the flow of power to the grid. While battery storage is seeing increased investment, further work is needed before it provides a viable solution to storing sufficient energy to balance grid fluctuations. Yet, despite these measures and their ability to be more responsive to changing demand, there’s no denying that the increased prevalence of smaller, intermittent sources can themselves result in varying power outputs and instability in supply. The high frequencies caused by high supply coupled with low demand can be very damaging to the transmission and distribution infrastructure, making HV cables bulge and putting transformers and switchgear under greater strain, as power becomes greater than original directional flow design. This was already an issue in areas of major solar generation, such as the South West.
In ‘normal’ circumstances, the grid’s frequency control demand management programme would help to mitigate these fluctuations. Major commercial and industrial consumers are incentivised to scale back or rapidly ramp-up their consumption of power to balance peaks and troughs. While pre-agreeing this pattern is a plausible option, using it as a way to mitigate risk in times of crisis isn’t something that can easily be achieved. Very few businesses have processes that they can turn up quickly to increase demand to the grid and, with many of the UK’s high-intensity power consumers currently inactive due to shutdown, there’s a declining pool of candidates willing and able to do so.

The role of load banks
A load bank offers the perfect power consumption solution to the issue of oversupply, providing a fast-acting, safe, major energy user that can be easily “plugged” into the grid. In simple terms, they can be used to manage and shed power overloads in order to prevent damage. Excess energy can be diverted from the energy network and power lines into load banks, which can then be safely dissipated as hot air.

Load banks are designed to replicate, prove and verify the real-life demands on critical power systems. As such, they are most often used to test back-up power generators and back up power systems. With modern life absolutely reliant on electricity to power everything from our personal lives to our transport, our businesses to our hospitals, load banks have a critical role to play in ensuring continuity of supply. Their role in shedding and dissipating overloads is lesser-known. Yet, in testing times, none the less valid in terms of ensuring the UK has the power it needs – especially with critical infrastructure such as hospitals reliant on uninterrupted supplies.

Whilst load banks have only recently played a small part for balancing the grid, load bank rental offers a viable, immediate and temporary solution to the issue of oversupply. With stability of supply reliant on the grid keeping the frequency at 50hz, load banks can act as a pressure relief valve, making a discernible, safe and immediate difference in an emergency situation, mitigating the risks caused by oversupply and reducing the likelihood of the UK being left without power.

The post Power in the balance: Fluctuating energy demand during times of crisis appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.

With more than 35 years of experience in the design and supply of load banks and testing equipment worldwide, Crestchic Loadbanks’ R&D team have worked closely with customers in the data centre industry to develop a bespoke solution which can be delivered with load banks of various capacities.

Paul Brickman, Sales and Marketing Director at Crestchic Loadbanks, explains, “We’re seeing more and more customers looking for a solution which will allow them to use their load testing equipment in multiple locations. This is especially true of data centres, many of which may have in excess of 20 generators on one site. Having the ability to move the load bank from one generator to another reduces the time and complexity of the testing process.”

The data centre market globally is experiencing fantastic growth, increasing the demand placed on their physical footprint. To meet the demand for increased capacity, many sites have multiple generators packed into a fairly a compact space, or spaced out in different locations around the site. This means that sites must be able to move their load testing equipment easily while also being able to fit into compact spaces.

Traditionally, applications that required a load bank to be moved regularly would need to use a low-loader, HGV or similar solution. As well as the need to have access to a vehicle with the load-bearing capacity to move this kind of equipment, using this type of vehicle often meant getting into tight spaces could be an issue – making it very hard to access all generator units. The design of the trailer ensures that the load bank can get close to the cable connection point, while the low-to-ground profile also overcomes the safety issues associated with working at height.

As well as improved manoeuvrability and safety, the trailer-mounted load bank solution houses all the equipment necessary to connect the load bank to the generator, including test cables and auxiliary supply cables. It also includes ACB protection, motorised cable deployment and power-safe connectors, facilitating quicker and more convenient onsite assembly and load testing.

Paul continues, “We’re always keen to work in collaboration with customers to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. This new product has been designed specifically to offer a practical remedy to known issues, offering users easier access and the convenience of a complete solution in one package.”

The post New trailer-mounted load bank speeds up testing for multi-generator data centres appeared first on Crestchic leading manufacturer of load banks.