Data Center Solar PV Grid Connection Solution

28 February 2025 Brice

Data center solar photovoltaic effect simulation

The annual power consumption of data centers is quite large, with artificial intelligence and AI becoming more and more common, the demand for data centers and IDCs will also increase with more and more, so in terms of electricity demand is also more and more important, and today's power plants have a limited supply of electricity, then solar photovoltaic power generation can be used to grid-connect to data centers or IDC server rooms, so let's learn about the typical solution and the implementation of the key points:

I.the technical architecture and core components

1. Micro-server cluster architecture

The traditional server room servers consume high energy, and the use of low-power micro-servers to replace the traditional high-energy equipment, coupled with the photovoltaic main power supply system, so that the overall energy consumption of the data center is reduced to 1/4 of the conventional program.

2. Photovoltaic Storage Flexible System Integration

Solar photovoltaic power generation is combined with lithium iron phosphate battery storage, and power is supplied directly through DC bus, reducing AC and DC conversion loss, in which the efficiency can be increased by 3%-5%, and realizing millisecond-level response to power fluctuations.

3. High voltage DC power distribution technology

Adopting 240V/336V high-voltage DC power supply architecture, compared with the traditional AC system to reduce line loss by 15%-20%, to adapt to the characteristics of the direct supply of photovoltaic.

II. Application Mode and Scenario Adaptation

Data Center Solar Photovoltaic Design Rendering

The following eastern region of China to provide data, the western region to provide server computing as a case study, the solar photovoltaic energy storage grid analysis.

Scenario Type	Solutions	Technical Indicators
Western Hub Data Center	Taking advantage of the layout of the“East Counts West Counts”project, we have constructed data centers with PV installed capacity of≥10MW in Gansu, Ningxia and other regions, with a green power usage rate of over 90%.	Annual emission reduction up to 100,000 tons of CO₂/100MW, carbon trading revenue over 15 million yuan/year.
‌Eastern Campus Data Center	Adopting BIPV program, i.e. building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) design, roof photovoltaic modules replace traditional building materials, with an installed density of 150W/m², which meets the	Electricity cost savings of 280-420 million RMB/MW over 25-year life cycle.
‌Emergency Backup Data Center	Deploying off-grid photovoltaic storage system, configured with 72 hours of energy storage capacity to ensure the continuous operation of core business during power outage.	System availability≥99.99%, TCO, or total cost of ownership, reduced by 40%.

Ⅲ. Intelligent Operation and Maintenance Management

1. AI digital twin monitoring

Enhance the status effect of equipment, which can realize real-time mapping of equipment status through NiOS™ and other platforms, shorten the fault location time to within 5 minutes, and the prediction error of power generation efficiency ≤3%.

2. Dynamic Power Regulation

The energy storage system is automatically adjusted based on AI algorithms, which can match the data center server load with the PV power output, so that the instantaneous green power consumption rate can be increased to more than 85%.

3. Preventive maintenance system

Combined with the above intelligent control, combined with the analysis of component health through temperature, IV curve and other data, early warning of equipment deterioration 3-6 months in advance, operation and maintenance costs reduced by 35%.

IV. Policy and Economic Benefits

Here can still take China's east counts west counts as a case study, and solar PV grid-connected analysis.

1. “East counts west counts” special support

In China's western data center to enjoy 0.28 yuan / degree of special green electricity tariffs, superimposed on the 15% income tax reduction policy. 2.
2.Peak and Valley Arbitrage Mechanism

Utilizing the energy storage system to store electricity in the low valley (RMB 0.2-0.3/kWh) and discharge electricity in the peak (RMB 0.8-1.2/kWh) of the electricity price, the annual revenue will increase by RMB 1.2-1.8 million/MWh.

3. Value-added carbon assets

Each MW of PV generates 1,200-1,500 tons of CCER carbon allowances annually, which can generate 96,000-120,000 yuan/MW at the current 80 yuan/ton trading price.

V. Typical Project Cases

PV Data Center Cluster in Zhongwei, Ningxia, China

In the PV scheme of China Ningxia Zhongwei PV Data Center, 200MW PV + 80MWh energy storage is configured, which effectively meets 50% of the self-consumption power demand, and the PUE value is reduced to below 1.15, saving 240 million yuan in annual electricity costs.

Tencent Huailai Data Center:

The Tencent data center in Huailai, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China, adopts BIPV roof + liquid-cooled servers, with an installed PV capacity of 15MW and a green power coverage of 40%, and has been awarded LEED Platinum certification.

Through the integration of technology and policy-driven, this solution has achieved a 60%-75% reduction in data center energy intensity, and has gradually become the mainstream construction mode under the “dual-carbon” goal, saving nearly one million yuan in power costs for the enterprise every year.