As data center demand quickly outpaces grid capacity, one of the largest challenges facing the industry is speed to power. As utility interconnection timelines grow, data center owners and developers are increasingly looking for power architectures that can accelerate deployment without compromising reliability or scalability.

For Dave Robinson, product marketing manager at Woodward, the solution could lie with behind-the-meter (BTM) microgrid generation – localized, small-scale power networks designed to generate, store, and distribute electricity for a specific area. As utilities scale up their generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, data centers are also looking at BTM as a “critical path” to maximizing returns through energy resilience and energy market participation.

Traditionally a designer, manufacturer, and service provider of energy control and optimization solutions, Woodward often supports aerospace and industrial markets, but is now refining its services for the data center industry to help close these power gaps.

“Developers are now looking for safe, reliable, and proven power management technologies that support system integration, predictable commissioning, and scalable expansion, to bring capacity online faster with lower integration risk,” explains Robinson. “BTM microgrid generation must be scalable for future growth and new technologies, both for emergency power and prime power.”

Distributed energy solutions provider PowerSecure seeks to accelerate this future-proofing strategy through the advancement of hybrid and basic microgrid systems.

“We’re providing a complete solution; the initial engineering, designing the site layout, building the equipment, permitting, installation, commissioning, maintenance, and monitoring for the life of the project,” says Rob Stone, principal engineer at PowerSecure. “We’re doing that complete scope as opposed to what would typically involve multiple vendors that each have their own piece.”

Turbocharging the speed to revenue metric

Microgrids have been touted as a future-leading solution for data centers as they can operate independently of the grid and limit energization delays, while also increasing speed to revenue – the time between committing capital investment and creating revenue with online computing capacity.

“Modular, scalable infrastructure can shorten electrical supply and distribution timelines, enabling a phased approach to bringing data halls online,” Robinson says. “Vendors delivering repeatable equipment and control architectures reduce not just the time, but also the integration risk, and provide greater confidence that additional generating capacity can be added as customer demand grows.”

Once investors make the decision to invest, the goal is to get data centers online as quickly as possible. A phased expansion methodology is also designed to scale revenue, because the operator doesn’t need to wait for a complete campus power system before energizing the initial data halls, Robinson explains:

“This allows capital deployment to follow contracted or anticipated computing demand,” he adds. “The revenue follows all that development, and this requires each phase to be commissioned reliably and integrated into the existing plant without excessive reengineering.”

Microgrid architectures can also help to reduce schedule risk, support phased commissioning, and allow operators to monetize capacity earlier while utility infrastructure catches up to demand.

The building blocks behind scalable microgrids

Focusing on turnkey microgrid solutions since 2001, PowerSecure is able to design, manufacture, install and monitor microgrid systems at scale through its own modular PowerBlock systems.

These independent pieces of equipment can scale to fit the needs of an individual facility. PowerSecure currently manages over 3GW of capacity utilizing these systems.

“Within each of these building blocks, we have a modular generator system. As the load grows, you can add generators to it – so each building block is scalable,” Stone explains. “Given that we control almost the entire process and are manufacturing the equipment ourselves, we don’t have the same supply chain vendor constraints companies traditionally have. We’ve got more control over the whole project to stay on schedule, manage quality, and control the overall outcome.”

What makes these modular microgrid architectures so different from traditional backup power systems is the unique control system. PowerSecure designs genset packages and manufactures switchgear that works together as a single system. It can also be configured in multiple ways based on utility requirements or individual customer needs.

“We manufacture our own low-voltage switchboards and medium-voltage switchgear, and we integrate our control systems into all that equipment,” says Stone.

An integrated approach to data center design

PowerSecure’s PowerBlocks have been designed with Woodward software and integration technology from the beginning of design.

“We’ve got a proven approach that we just have to redeploy,” Stone says. “The Woodward control system is the heart of the hardware and the base configuration.”

Both companies have been developing, testing and vetting different operating models to only require minimal field interconnect wiring between the equipment, reducing complexity. Stone and Robinson explain that the only interface between the genset and switchboard equipment is communication and control power – meaning less to install and troubleshoot on site.

While data center microgrids can appear complex, when installed in a repeated pattern, the argument is that the complexity dissolves. Integrated controls distribute the required functions to purpose-built devices, while allowing the overall plant to operate as one coordinated system.

“Woodward equipment simplifies the operation while keeping all of the highly technical and specific control algorithms within their system,” Robinson says. “These capabilities help OEMs and integrators deliver a more cohesive solution to the operator and reduce points of failure.”

Woodward has a sophisticated programmable logic controller (PLC) product line and delivers turnkey microgrid controller solutions primarily for military and marine applications, but for data center power management employs its purpose-built genset and ATS controllers that are configurable without needing a programmable logic controller.

This is designed to benefit the end user by reducing the number of controllers in the architecture and simplifying their design, commissioning and troubleshooting if the data center experiences an interruption.

“With PowerSecure’s PowerBlocks, a PLC isn’t required because the controllers manage control and protection for their clients,” Robinson adds. “Critically, for remote support or local support, data center operators don’t require personnel with PLC programming skills.”

Because a data center loses significant revenue for unplanned outages, time to solve an outage becomes critical. For PowerSecure, having the ability to troubleshoot either with local personnel on site or by logging in remotely can save a significant amount of money – simplifying the product reduces the risk.

“We’re able to use the built-in protections and base functionality and add the custom configuration we’ve developed. This allows us to build a traditionally complex system that can be customized for multiple operating modes using the same hardware platform,” Stone explains.

Building flexibility and reliability for customers

Modern data center operators require solutions capable of supporting multiple generation and utility interaction models. Some of these modes of operation include open transition, short-term parallel and long-term parallel. Given that utility requirements can vary widely throughout the US, two similar systems in a service area could be configured very differently.

For PowerSecure, however, the benefits of being able to view, control, and dispatch a system remotely is incredibly powerful.

“Our optional monitoring service allows us to spot issues, alarms and anomalies in temperatures, pressures, and other equipment metrics and address them ahead of time,” Stone notes. “It’s a powerful feature to increase reliability and take work off the customer’s plate to optimize usage.”

“One benefit of our approach is it can be set up with the same hardware. We can reconfigure the system with software changes to take advantage of those other capabilities,” Stone explains. “The reason you might choose among those four operating modes for different sites is going to depend on the utility requirements to interconnect with the grid, the incentives they might have in terms of rate structure to allow you to use the generators for peak demand, as well as the customer’s priorities.”

PowerSecure and Woodward have worked to prioritize interconnectivity and microgrid integration for decades, since Woodward’s easYgen platform was first released.

One example of their collaboration at work is a data center in Atlanta, Georgia, which marked one of their earlier large data center projects that used this technological approach – a pattern that has since been used for dozens more data centers across the US.

Stone explains how a lot of effort was put into the standard design here to develop the different configuration settings to be applied in myriad ways and meet a range of utility requirements.

“We tried to build in as much flexibility as we could to meet various US requirements,” he adds. “The first phase was around 168MW, and growing.”

A long-term foundation

There is no single power architecture that fits every data center or every stage of a facility’s lifecycle. The benefit of PowerSecure and Woodward’s integrated approach is that, as customer requirements change, developers can later add BTM generation, battery storage, or other distributed energy resources as power becomes available.

“Future energy transitions require a flexible, integrated control platform that enables evolution of prime power resources without having to redesign existing power systems,” Robinson says. “It must provide technologies that enable seamless integration across grid connections, diverse generation sources, and operating modes.”

As expectations increase, alongside grid uncertainties, they posit that microgrids are a foundation for long-term operational certainty, particularly as energy anxieties persist.

A future-ready microgrid is expected to separate the control of each energy asset from the coordination of the overall power system, maintaining their dedicated controls while connecting through a common power management architecture.

“New resources and operating strategies can be introduced without redesigning the complete plant. That’s what PowerSecure is doing now with Woodward controls – creating individual control at the asset level, and then putting the connections in place to make an integrated solution,” Robinson explains.

With this type of setup, customers are ultimately buying certainty that power can be delivered when it’s needed and that data center systems will operate reliably and have the ability to scale without too much complexity. For Robinson, that requires proven generation equipment, integrated controls, repeatable architecture, and strong lifecycle project support.

To maintain resilience for the next generation of data centers, as they move towards 800VDC architecture, BTM power will still require coordinated controls. Particularly as architectures evolve, the industry will still need to rely on existing prime mover assets – for instance, as SMRs come online, steam turbines will need to be controlled, Robinson suggests.

Data center developers ultimately want vendor partners who are able to support and speed up designing their facilities and be available for technical support once operational.

“Speed to power is not simply about installing megawatts quickly,” Robinson says. “It’s about bringing the complete generation and electrical system into reliable operation, so data center capacity can start producing value sooner and expand with confidence.”

To learn more, please visit:

PowerSecure at: https://powersecure.com/

Woodward at: https://www.woodward.com/