Electricity and Control June 2024

TRANSFORMERS, SUBSTATIONS + CABLES

Modular substations suit growing data centres

As digitalisation gathers pace in industry, business and the economy broadly, data centres have become a fast-growing sector in South Africa and internationally. Data centres are typically scaled up over time and in this respect, and others, modular substations present an ideal solution for powering the facilities. David Claassen, Managing Director atTrafo Power Solutions, sets out the benefits of going the modular route.

A s South Africa rides the digital wave, data centres need to be able to upscale at short notice – and similarly, the substations that power them. Claassen says modular substations are proving to be ideally suited to supporting the expansion of data centres over time. Many data centres start out with a large building structure that is only 30 to 40% equipped with servers and ancillary equipment. “The approach is often to set up a facility that is affordable in terms of the early customer base, and then expand the infrastructure as the customer base grows,” says Claassen. “Using modular substations, the data centre can be equipped with as many as it needs for start-up, and more of the substations can be added as and when required.” He highlights that, as 24/7 operations, data centres re quire reliable and continuous power, so backup arrange ments need to be in place. These might include diesel generators and, essentially, uninterruptible power supplies to ensure optimal uptime, and these too need to be able to be upscaled with additional units, installed as demand determines. Timelines “There is considerable pressure on timeframes when a data centre is planned, built and expanded – because the soon

A dry-type transformer installed in a modular substation for a data centre. er it can operate, the sooner it can generate revenue,” he notes. “All supply partners involved in these projects have to find innovative ways of speeding up the process without compromising the result.” Modular substations present an optimal solution as they can be designed and built quickly. The repetitive nature of the manufacturing process lends itself to speed, and econ omies of scale achieved in steel and other material require ments can reduce costs. In its modular substation solutions for data centres, Trafo Power Solutions typically provides a dry-type transformer and medium voltage switchgear. These units step down the incoming medium voltage power for the low voltage servers and ancillary equipment on the racks. “With our experience, we have a good understanding of where we fit into the customer’s overall electrical network,” Claassen says. “We design the substations to ensure a seamless interface with other aspects of the data centre, such as the low voltage distribution, the medium voltage switchgear, UPSs and the overall control and monitoring system for the facility.” The control system could be one of various products and brands and Trafo Power Systems designs its substa-

A modular substation for delivery to a data centre, equipped with dry-type transformer, switchgear and monitoring systems.

24 Electricity + Control JUNE 2024