OCP Global Summit 2024 Series
Originally planned as a two-part reflection, my series from the fantastic OCP Summit has grown into a series!
Up next: the topic of power.
Power
One of the most talked about topics at the conference was power. Generation, distribution and solutions for data centers, especially in the context of sustainability and efficiency, both inside and outside the data center, and unique solutions behind the meter.
Hydrogen’s Color Spectrum
Aaron Wemhoff 's presentation taught me that hydrogen isn’t just hydrogen—it’s categorized by colors based on how it’s produced, each with different environmental impacts:
? Grey Hydrogen: Produced via steam-methane reforming, which is common but carbon-intensive.
? Blue Hydrogen: Essentially grey hydrogen but with carbon capture technology to reduce emissions.
? Green Hydrogen: Generated through electrolysis using electricity from renewable sources— making it the most sustainable option.
? Pink Hydrogen: Similar to green hydrogen but uses nuclear energy instead of renewables.
? Yellow Hydrogen: Like pink but produced using only solar energy.
Understanding these distinctions is crucial as we explore alternative energy sources for powering data centers.
With a lot of discussion around nuclear, and SMR's, the below image is a good nuclear introduction, from a sizing point of view, of applications and suitability.
ECL’s Off-Grid Hydrogen Data Centers
It was great to see Dean Nelson and Yuval Bachar discuss ECL 's developments in off-grid, behind the meter, hydrogen-powered data centers. I first learned about ECL at Yotta 2024 a couple of weeks back, and their project is super interesting. It’s exciting to see companies like Cato Digital leveraging these innovations to advance sustainable AI.
Google’s Proposal to Shift from 48VDC to 400VDC
Coming back into the data center for a minute, 谷歌 is suggesting a significant shift in data center power systems—from the traditional 48VDC to 400VDC. By leveraging advancements (and supply chain) from the electric vehicle (EV) industry, where most cars operate at 400VDC (with performance cars at 800VDC, or dual 400VDC systems). This change means fewer power conversion stages, increased efficiency, and reduced space requirements within racks.
Implementing Busbar Power Distribution in Immersion Environments
As immersion cooling tanks become denser and house more powerful compute resources, implementing busbar power distribution inside these environments becomes increasingly important. The electrical systems supporting these setups need to be robust and efficient. With immersion fluid standards driving material compatibility (and vise-versa), this ongoing work is critical to standardize and improve the performance and reliability of immersion-cooled data centers.
The Rise of Zombie Data Centers
There was an intriguing discussion about the rise of “Zombie Data Centers”—facilities with unused or underutilized capacity. We’re seeing businesses leverage this latent capacity to provide innovative solutions. Amazon Web Services (AWS) was famously born from selling the excess capacity that Amazon.com didn’t use during off-peak hours. Companies like Tobias Hooton ’s Stelia , Vast.ai , and SLYD Group Inc. are tapping into this surplus, offering a marketplace for latent capacity.
Jonathan Koomey discusses this approach using a digital twin solution, a form of dogfooding—the infrastructure provides the ability to create digital twins, using its own resources to benefit itself and its clients. The challenges lie in the initial deployment and, more significantly, the operational effort required to keep these systems accurate and up-to-date.