Digitalisation is giving a real boost to high performance computing (HPC) – a sector that needs to be environmentally friendly, too. A great deal of computing power, in other words, a lot of energy for servers and cooling, and all that in harmony with the environment – a Herculean task for companies with ambitious climate goals. Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Infosys are reconciling these needs by transferring particularly intensive data workloads to the Lefdal Mine Datacenter in Norway, one of the largest and greenest data centres anywhere in the world.
Overview
- Project
- HPC at Lefdal Mine
- Location
- Lefdal Mine, Norway
- Branch
- IT-infrastructure
- Automotive-Industry
- Challenge
HPC e.g. for simulations in the automotive sector
Reducing CO2 footprint
- Solution
Data Centre in Lefdal Mine that works with 100 per cent renewable power
TCO is about 60 per cent lower than other DC
PUE between 1.1. and 1.0
No CO2 emissions
200 MW capacity
High-performance computing (HPC) has long ceased being a marginal area. In light of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things, companies are facing ever-growing requirements. This dramatic expansion of computing and memory-intensive applications – assuming the so far normal power supply and cooling – is in contrast to the second challenge that industry must now face quickly and consistently: climate neutrality. A new approach is therefore needed for HPC applications.
Not only do we benefit from natural cooling in a cold climate, but all the power we use is green electricity. This initiative is another important milestone on our journey to climate neutrality.
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG is now a pioneer in climate-friendly high-performance computing. The premium manufacturer is starting crash simulation and other technological developments for driverless vehicles at the Lefdal Mine Datacenter. At the same time, the modular infrastructure allows rapid implementation. Instead of it taking years to set up and configure the data centre, it only takes six to eight weeks with Rittal standard systems. The first parts of the HPC data centre that the Mercedes-Benz Group relocated to Lefdal went live in early 2022.
IT COULDN’T BE GREENER – THE LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER
The Lefdal Mine Datacenter (LMD), which specialises in high-performance computing (HPC), is one of the most environmentally friendly in the world and, in many respects, a global role model. It runs on 100 percent renewable power, and the long-term costs are considerably lower than in Germany. The total cost of ownership (TCO) is around 60% lower than other data centres. The Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is around 1.1 to 1.10, compared to a German average of 1.7. There are no carbon emissions.
Since the data centre is below sea level, cooling with the water from the fjord (at a constant temperature of 8 °C) also comes at a water usage effectiveness (WUE) value of zero. Furthermore, with these highly green values, the LMD has 120,000 m2 of white space and a capacity of 200 MW. What’s more, the data centre is located in a country where European data privacy is enshrined in law.