Eco Edge Prime Power

Project Information

E2P2

Grant agreement ID: 101007219

DOI

10.3030/101007219

EC signature date 1 December 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 3 576 409,45

EU contribution

€ 2 499 715,50

Coordinated by

RISE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN AB
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - E2P2 (Eco Edge Prime Power)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Constructing data centres in urban areas are challenged by power availability, noise limitations, environmental and thermal constraints, and in some cases the effects of climate change. Fuel cells have been identified as a solution that can alleviate demands on the urban power distribution since they operate on natural gas, biogas, hydrogen or propane (LPG) that can be transported and distributed over existing gas networks. This makes fuel cells ideal as the prime power source for resilient data centres in populated areas.
The vision of E2P2 is to develop and demonstrate low environmental impact fuel cells that provide economic and resilient prime power solutions for data centres in populated areas. The project envisions revolutionising the power distribution to data centres by bringing European fuel cell technologies to market within an open standard that will enable their simultaneous deployment within a modular and extensible ecosystem.
The project has the mission to address the challenges highlighted earlier by bringing key innovations and expertise within the E2P2 consortium to design, validate, build, integrate, test and operate an array of fuel cells as the prime power for a data centre. By using a multi-transdisciplinary approach and satisfying the interest and input from various fields, the project output will be more readily accepted and implemented, which is a key feature for the establishment of a fuel cell powered data centre on the European market.

Objective 1: Define the fuel cell prime power concept for data centres.
Objective 2: Create an authoritative open standard for fuel cell adaption to power data centres.
Objective 3: Demonstrate and validate a proof-of-concept fuel cell based prime power module for data centres.
Objective 4: Collect extensive operational data from fuel cells as prime power for data centres.
Objective 5: Analyse the combined social, environmental and commercial impact for the European market.
Objective 6: Evaluate opportunities for improved energy efficiency and waste heat recovery.
Objective 7: Create effective market uptake and a business strategy.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project has designed, constructed and delivered all major components that make up the E2P2 Proof of Concept —including the fuel cells, gas and water treatment systems, and the electrical module. All the components have passed the factory acceptance testing and has been delivered to the Equinix ML5 data centre in Settimo Milanese, just outside Milan, Italy.

The fuel cell system, developed by SolydEra, consists of two 45 kW solid oxide fuel cells customized for large industrial use such as data centres. Each system includes 60 stacks, each with a capacity of 1.5 kW. The fuel cell systems are housed in 20-foot containers.
For the fuel cells to work properly, gas och water treatment systems are required. These systems have been deleloped by Tec4Fuels and consists of two smaller containers. Incoming natural gas passes the gas treatment system on its way to the fuel cells. The gas treatment system make sure that the different components in the gas are within accpeted levels. The water treatment system cleans the water in the water loop. The electrical system, developed by Vertiv, includes a UPS, batteries, and a control system. The control system has been developed jointly by RISE and SolydEra. In addition to managing the entire E2P2 system, it also collects data from various sensors. Once the system is operational, this data will be transmitted to the RISE ICE data centre in Luleå, Sweden.

A life cycle analysis of the E2P2 system is almost finished, and an analysis on social impact has been performed.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

State of the art of a data centre is grid supply + UPS + diesel generators as power back up, in order to guarantee the basic “five nine” reliability requirement to Critical loads.
The use of fuel cells systems with high electrical efficiency allows the saving of primary energy, comparing to any other utility/generators, directly impacting on carbon footprint of the product. In addition, it helps to save complex and costly electrical infrastructures (for instance for power distribution), where gas distribution is typically already existing and more easily provided.
The integration of fuel cells into a data centre is something of fully innovative, going into market requirements with low cost and environmentally friendly concepts. Being that data centre typically located in cities, sound level is also another important requirement. Fuel Cell systems are very quiet, comparing to diesel generators, good matching with this important requirement. The probability of gas grid interruptions, beyond the incorporation of a UPS/battery system which is limited in time depending on battery size, is very low. SOFC-based fuel cells can also operate with green gases (i.e. green hydrogen, biomethane, etc.) making them more and more as attractive part of global decarbonization solutions. Standardization of power solutions is a crucial aspect for opening the market and make the option replicable in other locations.

Fuel cell system operates at high electrical efficiency, higher than what combination of grid and alternative generators can provide. The power produced by the fuel cell generators will be used in a highly efficient way within the data centre, without further dissipations as happens in standard supply concepts. Fuel Cell based systems running with natural gas do not create harmful emissions such as sulphur dioxide (SOx) and particulate matter (PM), and very reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and CO2. In many areas, and particularly in urban environmental, these emissions are being more and more regulated, in order to minimize the effects on people life quality and health issues. This as an intermediate step towards transitioning to 100% green hydrogen solutions), further reducing particularly CO2 emissions, in line with decarbonization strategies of EU and single members.
The Proof of Concept fuel cell will be assessed on its environmental impact, which will be achieved by a life cycle analysis (LCA). This will also include assessments of the fuel type as biogas and hydrogen become a viable alternative with lower environmental impact.

E2P2 logotype

E2P2 modules in Settimo Milanese