Data Center Program: Colocation Colocation Data Center Savings Opportunities Colocation incentives are available if your facility relocates its data center, server room, or server closet to a colocation facility with more efficient operations. A colocation facility is a data center that rents space to businesses to host their servers and other computing needs. Many commercial and institutional AEP Ohio customers have realized cost savings and operational benefits from colocation. Some of these benefits include: • Increased efficiency, reliability, and scalability • Allows IT staff to focus on core work rather than supporting facility and infrastructure needs • Stable and predictable costs Customer Eligibility Any AEP Ohio non‐residential customer with data center, server room or other IT space is eligible. Project applications must be submitted within 180 days of project completion from a previous calendar year or within the same calendar year of its completion. Higher Efficiencies Through Colocation The AEP Ohio team has significant experience in not only helping data centers drive higher levels of energy efficiency, but also in helping facilities improve their performance through migrating to a colocation site. How to Participate 1. Free Facility Survey and Application Assistance The Data Center Program team is a free resource available to help you survey your facility and assess energy savings. Whether your project is adding some new capacity in a colocation facility or a total migration of your IT operations, the team will help evaluate energy savings opportunities and keep you on track in the pre‐
application process. 2. Post Installation Savings Verification The final application should be submitted within 30 days of the project completion. Upon receipt of the final application, the Data Center Program team will provide a post‐install savings verification free of charge. Your performance based incentive will be based on actual energy saved in your data center. 3. Payment Once your energy savings are verified, AEP Ohio will review your final application and release incentives ($0.07/kWh saved or $0.06/kWh saved for Virtualization Projects), typically within 4‐6 weeks. Opportunities for Colocation Savings
Our Data Center Team can help you identify and receive funding for data center energy saving opportunities that result from migrating to a colocation data center. Initial Information Gathering and Walkthrough Efficient Cooling and Power Systems The AEP Ohio Data Center team will conduct an efficiency assessment of the original data center. The information gathered from this assessment will determine the facility’s Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) which is the total energy used divided by the energy the IT equipment uses. The AEP Ohio Data Center team will conduct an efficiency assessment of the colocation data center as well. The colocation facility’s PUE will be compared to that of the original data center to estimate the savings potential. The Data Center Team will also assist in filling out the Pre Application at this time. Colocation facilities generally have highly efficient cooling systems not typically found in smaller data centers. These may include variable frequency drives or EC motors for fan speed control, innovative free cooling systems to reduce compressor and chiller run times, advanced air flow management strategies, and efficient uninterruptable power supply (UPS) infrastructure. Post Project Savings Verification The AEP Ohio Data Center team will gather the data required from the colocation facility to finalize the savings amount. This may include data logging of HVAC equipment, trend readings from the facility’s control system, or manual readings recorded from equipment control panels. The incentive check will be based on the verified savings
Server and Storage Optimization IT projects such as server virtualization, storage de‐
duplication and tiering can yield significant energy savings in data centers. Server virtualization allows for consolidation of low‐performance servers onto high‐performance servers by deploying them in a virtual environment. Storage tiering allows for elimination of redundant data so that infrastructure can be minimized and optimized. These measures can be done in conjunction with the colocation move for additional savings. Center Colocation Case Studies:
A large company based in Ohio moved their IT operations from an older in‐house data center to the highly efficient Cologix (formerly DataCenter.BZ) colocation facility in Columbus. The project resulted in an annual energy savings of over 200,000 kWh, and the company received an incentive of $16,500. A large corporation moved a significant portion of their IT operations from another part of the country to a more efficient data center in Ohio. Along with the move, they virtualized and consolidated their servers and storage equipment. The project realized an energy savings of nearly 4,000,000 kWh.
A small business elected to relocate three server racks from their server room to a nearby colocation data center. The difference in efficiency between the server room and the large data center resulted in an energy savings of 140,000 kWh and freed their staff to focus on Annual Cost Savings Energy Efficiency Incentive $18,000
$16,500
$190,000
$300,000
$12,600
$11,000
their core work.
For more information, call 855-290-3876 or
e-mail – [email protected]
AEP Ohio provides free assistance in savings identification and application submission.
Visit AEPOhio.com/Solutions for other energy efficiency programs and tips offered from AEP Ohio.
Rev 01/23