Optimal multi-energy portfolio towards zero carbon data center buildings in the presence of proactive demand response programs

• Published in: Applied energy Vol. 350; p. 121806
• Main Authors: Xu, Da, Xiang, Shizhe, Bai, Ziyi, Wei, Juan, Gao, Menglu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.11.2023
• Subjects: Data center building; Integrated energy systems; Renewable energy; Sustainable planning; Zero carbon; Zero carbon; Renewable energy; Data center building; Sustainable planning; Integrated energy systems
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121806

Multiple geographically dispersed data center buildings have been increasingly positioned in renewable-rich areas due to their high energy consumption. This paper proposes an optimal multi-energy portfolio for zero carbon data center buildings in the presence of proactive demand response programs. In the data center buildings, the complementarities of hydro-solar-wind hybrid renewable energy sources (RESs) are fully exploited via multi-energy conversion and storage devices, which are modeled as 100% renewable energy hubs for zero carbon multi-energy supplies. In order to exploit the hub-internal operational dispatchability and flexibility, a comprehensive energy consumption model of data center buildings is proposed to facilitate the demand response in terms of available serves, while the variable speed pumped storage (VSPS) is modeled to capture its dynamic operational characteristics. The energy‑carbon production, conversion, storage, and consumption are formulated as an energy‑carbon matrix, which are solved via a two-stage method to obtain the optimal portfolio. Case studies on southwest China data center buildings are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed methodology on cost-effective accommodation of RESs. Simulations results show that the system portfolio cost can be reduced by at most 17.8% with a higher operational flexibility. •A cost-effective data center building is proposed to accommodate zero carbon targets.•Hydro-solar-wind 100% renewables are formulated for multi-energy supplies.•VSPS and data center energy consumption are modeled to exploit inherent flexibility.•The energy-carbon production, conversion, storage, and consumption are optimized.