smartbuildingmag.com
10
’21
Written on Modified on
Aggreko
Temporary solutions company Aggreko has recently bolstered its European loadbank fleet with an additional $5 million investment, bringing the total to 500+ units, to ensure that the growing demands of Europe’s data centre market are met.
Europe’s data usage is increasing year-on-year, with the mass shift to remote working during the pandemic boosting the continent’s ever-growing appetite for data. Research from EAE Business School indicates that the number of European companies with staff working from home has risen to 88%, compared to just 4% before the pandemic.
With increased data usage, the repercussions of downtime caused by equipment failure are similarly increased, with revenue and reputation both at risk for businesses. To support the growing industry, Aggreko’s new fleet of loadbanks will allow rigorous testing across data centre projects, to ensure facilities are suitably equipped to deal with heightened levels of demand.
Billy Durie, Global Sector Head of Data Centres at Aggreko, said: “At present, data centres are expected to maintain 99.999% uptime and so there is an extremely narrow margin for error at any point within the process. The best way to ensure that equipment is able to meet such precise requirements is to conduct extensive loadbank testing early on. This way, we can determine whether equipment is able to deal with high levels of demand ahead of time, and avoid failures further down the line.”
Aggreko’s investment brings the total to 542 loadbank units within their fleet, with access to resistive-only AC loadbanks, combined resistive and reactive loadbanks in single or multiple units, and DC loadbanks.
The units are used to test electrical power supplies by simulating variable electrical load conditions in a way that can be accurately controlled, measured and recorded remotely from a handheld device.
Billy continued: “With so many people transitioning to remote working in the past year, more strain has been placed on data centres than ever. At Aggreko, we want to ensure that infrastructure is suitably equipped to deal with increased usage. For this reason, we have increased the size of our rental fleet to be more in line with the demands of the modern world.”
For more information on Aggreko’s loadbank fleet, visit: https://www.aggreko.com/en/products/loadbanks-global
