Cornish data centre will be powered using on-site solar panels and local wind power
UK communications technology specialist Goonhilly has today opened a new ultra-green data centre at its satellite station in Cornwall, which will utilise a range of low carbon technologies to help curb the intensive power demands of high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
The data centre will provide GPU-based compute and storage for both AI and machine learning applications, which is designed to meet the increasingly data-intensive needs of the automotive, life sciences, and space/aerospace marketplaces.
To help curb the power demands of such processing, the company has deployed a cutting-edge liquid immersion cooling system from cleantech company Submer.
In addition, an onsite array of solar panels will support the data centre's power requirements, which total 500KW, while local wind power will shortly be added to the mix, the firm said.
"There are people working on some clever algorithms to save our planet from climate change - the irony is that these models require heavy processing power," said Chris Roberts, head of data centre and cloud at Goonhilly. "Fortunately new technology is helping, such as immersion cooling which is 45-50 per cent more efficient than air cooling, cuts electricity demand in half, and also allows us to use the exhaust heat elsewhere."
Because the data centre sits at the junction of global subsea cables, satellite feeds and fibre, customers can analyse data at the edge of the network, eliminating the need to spend an average of £20,000 per month for a leased line to send huge data volumes back to London for processing, the firm said. It also expects existing satellite customers to use the data centre, with today's satellites used for applications such as 8K real-time imaging that require petabytes of data.
"Through our strong partnerships with industry and academia we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation," said Goonhilly CEO Ian Jones. "Our new green data centre is no exception. It is satisfying to open our doors to the many businesses and organisations with data-intensive applications who can benefit from this facility and the community we are creating."