At a recent Sustainability Advisory Council session, Jason Lim, Director IT Ops and Data Center and Wong Yoke Chye, Director Cyber and Information Security of SP Group shared how their organization is helping Singapore towards its sustainability journey, the best practices they adopt in operating sustainable data centers and how they keep their digital infrastructure, including that support sustainability secure. This note captures the key points discussed.
Sustainability at SP Group
SP Group is not just Singapore’s national grid operator, butis also a leading utilities provider in Asia-Pacific, with businesses in China, Thailand, Australia and Vietnam. It serves more than 1.7 million customers in Singapore alone. It plays a key role in helping Singapore achieve its Net Zero target. Its sustainability business unit has three key services:
- ‘District cooling’, which is an alternative to conventional air conditioning through centralized production and provision of chilled water to multiple buildings. SP Group is the largest provider of district cooling in Singapore with a capacity of 17,000 RT.
- It is setting up EV charging public network in Singapore to support its aim to have 12,000 charging points across the island by 2030. The charging points include AC, DC and DC fast charging.
- It is deploying solar PV solutions on residential block rooftops, at a shipping yard and also at industrial units owned by a Real estate investment trust (REIT). It also generates over 15 MWp (Megawatt Peak) solar power through PV cells at its own substations.
SP Group also acts as an integrator of low-carbon energy including imported power, and in the future hydrogen and geothermal. It measures its own Scope1-3 emissions and has set targets for their reduction. SP Group has also built an office-cum retail tower on top of a large substation in Singaporethat conforms to Green Mark Super Low Energy standards. The building uses IOT devices, machine learning and AI to reduce energy consumption.
Data Center Sustainability at SP Group
Data centers account for 7% of Singapore’s electricity consumption, which may rise to 12% by 2030. Singapore aims to enhance the energy efficiency of data centers and has set a target of 1.3 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) for large data centers. For reference, the average PUE of data centers is 1.47. Through a variety of initiatives, SP Group has brought down its PUE from 1.43 to 1.35 in just one year. The major sets of initiatives are:
Optimizing cooling
Installation of multi-compressor magnetic bearing chiller system – magnetic bearings eliminate friction, while multiple compressors help in matching the cooling capacity with the load, making the chiller system more efficient. Hot and cold air are separated through aisle containment for greater energy efficiency.
Advanced control systems and adaptive algorithmsthat use ML and AI help in further optimizing cooling. As a result, its cooling systems have an efficiency of 0.481 kW/RT, significantly lower than the Green Mark requirement of 0.65 kW/RT.
Power systems efficiency
SP Group uses ‘low loss, high efficiency transformers’, which have 98% efficiency. Also, it uses a modular UPS system with 99% efficiency, a 6% bump over the conventional UPS systems.
Energy efficient IT equipment
SP Group uses Star Rated hardware in the data centre, in addition to software control technologies like virtualization, dynamic control of equipment and monitoring of server utilization.
Other initiatives
It also keeps an eye on water usage (through meticulous tracking) and water leaks by integrating sensor data with the building management system. Further, it uses Nitrogen as a fire suppressant, instead of ozone depleting or greenhouse gas options. It also monitors and controls internal air quality at data centres in terms of CO2, humidity and temperature. It also focuses on predictive maintenance of key equipment like generators, chillers, and UPS and battery systems, by keeping track of their key operating parameters.
Next steps in Data Centre efficiency
Having harvested most gains possible, the next step for SP Group is to continue to look for ways to improve PUE further through technologies like ‘chilled water in-row cooling’ and ‘direct liquid cooling’, which can make cooling more energy efficient.
Protecting the digital infrastructure
SP Group has integrated cybersecurity into sustainability strategies to protect critical infrastructure and maintain trust on digital solutions that support sustainability practices. The main elements of the cybersecurity strategy are:
- Compliance with stringent Cybersecurity Act of Cyber Security Agency Singapore (CSA)
- Annual risk assessment in conformance with guidelines of CSA
- A layered approach to security including CSA Supply Chain Programme and NIST framework
- A fusion centre that brings together IT, OT, Cybersecurity with threat intelligence and physical security
- Strategic partnerships with key agencies like CERTIS, Ensign and CSA
- Building Cyber-AI capabilities in partnership with Ensign to detect phishing attacks and advanced threats, and to improve incident response.