Sourcing Renewables  -  July 21, 2021

Kao Data Starts Transition to Oil-Fueled Backup Generators

Kao Data announced July 19 that it has become the U.K.’s first data center to use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to power all its backup generators.

This transition will help the data center operator with its goal to eventually reach net-zero emissions and be carbon neutral by 2030. The switch to HVO will allow Kao Data to eliminate up to 90% of CO2 emissions from its backup generators.

The project is executed through a partnership with Crown Oil, which generates the HVO through a specialist hydrotreatment process. Kao Data will begin by replacing 45,000 liters of diesel with HVO and will eventually move to 750,000 liters when the Harlow campus is fully developed.

Kao Data has previously implemented other sustainability initiatives at its colocation data center campuses, such as using 100% renewable energy, 100% refrigerant-free indirect evaporative cooling technologies and hyper scale-inspired design to deliver a PUR of less than 1.2.

“This pioneering approach to replace our generator’s diesel provision with HVO fuel, is a key step in the company’s efforts to become Net Zero, and a further demonstration of our leadership in the international data centre sustainability field,” Gérard Thibault, chief technology officer at Kao Data, said in a statement. “This move effectively eliminates fossil fuels from our data centre operations, and helps us reduce Scope 3 emissions in our customers’ supply chain, while delivering no degradation to the service they receive. Most importantly, it shows how our industry can take a simple and highly beneficial step forward for the good of the environment, ahead of COP26.”