Team Technologies, an IT-services arm of TDS Telecommunications (a major US telco), has received an energy rebate from an electrical utility in Wisconsin for installing energy-efficient electrical and mechanical infrastructure at its new data center in Fitchburg.

Madison Gas & Electric cut Team as check for about US$115,000, after the company installed equipment that would reportedly result in a reduction by about 2.35m kWh per year of the data center’s overall energy use, Focus on Energy, a statewide utility funded efficiency-focused organization said in a statement.

The data center’s energy savings will also result in an annual electricity bill for the facility that is nearly $190,000 lower than it would be had Team chosen not to install the more efficient infrastructure components.

Robert Maney, senior account manager at Madison Gas & Electric, said energy efficient equipment coupled with an innovative air-conditioning design not only gave Team energy savings, but also better control of the facility’s systems.

“In the highly competitive and energy-intensive data center industry, controlling cost is a top priority,” Maney said.

At the heart of the data center’s cooling plant is a high-efficiency 550-ton chiller with a variable-frequency drive, which gives it the ability to ramp cooling output up and down according to load. But the chiller will not run all the time, as the system also has an integrated waterside economizer that will generate free cooling whenever outside air temperature permits.

The cooling system is operating at a lower total static pressure, which reduces the amount of power it needs to operate.

On the electrical side, Team chose high-efficiency uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units with an energy-saver system mode, which reduces conversion losses.