Data center developer and operator, 365 Main, as a second-year participant in PG and E’s Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) program, has reduced power consumption during CPP events, saving $54,000 in utility costs in 2007.According to the company, this is the largest CPP savings among all data center companies in PG and E’s coverage area. In total, 365 Main saved 7,477 kWh during the CPP events in 2007 when the company was able to curtail power usage below its energy-consumption baseline.
Jean Paul Balajadia, Senior Vice President of Engineering at 365 Main offered, ”We are pleased to participate in PG and E’s CPP program as one part of our overall energy management efforts and look forward to continuing our participation in 2008. 365 Main is serious about our commitment to improving energy management in the data center, and the CPP program allows us to pursue that cause.”
PG and E’s voluntary CPP program is designed to curtail energy load during the summer to offset the possibility of an energy emergency. The utility offers seasonal discounts to single-building customers that reduce or shift their energy usage away from peak periods.
Steve McCarty, Director of Demand Response Programs at PG and E noted, ”365 Main’s leadership and experience in participating in innovative high-tech demand response programs enhances PG and E’s efforts to reduce data center energy usage in peak periods. As the spotlight intensifies on data centers as energy consumers, we’re pleased to help 365 Main do its part to reduce peak consumption.”
According to the Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (August 2007), data centers consumed about 60 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006, roughly 1.5% of total U.S. electricity consumption. The energy consumption of servers and data centers doubled in the past five years and is expected to almost double again in the next five years to more than 100 billion kWh, costing about $7.4 billion annually.
