Why in News:

• Microsoft has partnered with Fortum, a Finnish energy company to heat homes, services and businesses in Finland with sustainable waste heat from a new datacentre region.

What is a data centre ?

• A data centre is a physical facility that organisations use to store their critical applications and data, process data and disseminate them to users. 
• It is designed based on a network of computing and storage resources that enables delivery of shared applications and data.
  • The key components of a data centre are routers, switches, firewalls, storage systems, servers, and application-delivery controllers.

The need for recycling

• Since data centers consume large amounts of energy, it’s important to ensure the physical structures that house them are well-designed and insulated to optimise temperature controls and energy efficiency.
• The temperatures recorded in the hot aisles of a data centre hover between 80 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit
• Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky estimates over 75% of a datacentre’s electricity becomes waste heat.  It noted that in winter, a data centre can provide heating up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to a gas boiler, with better energy efficiency than a heat pump in a new house.

Carbon footprint of data centres

• On a global level, data centers consume around 200 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, which is more than 1% of the world’s total electricity. They contribute to 0.3% of all global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
• Data Centre energy usage in some countries could increase to 15% to 30% of their total domestic electricity consumption by the end of the decade

How does recycling help?

• The heat recycling system can provide clean heat to homes, businesses and public buildings, and can reduce up to 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
• Excess heat generated by the new data centre region and transfers the clean heat from the server cooling process to homes, services and business premises that are connected to the district heating system. It is a system of generating heat in a centralised location by capturing heat and then distributing it to buildings for residential and commercial heating needs. The heat is transferred to customers as hot water which is pumped through insulated underground pipes.

Related Information

India’s Draft Data Centre Policy 2020

What does it hope to achieve?

• Making India a Global Data Centre hub
• Promote investment in the sector,
• Propel digital economy growth,
• Enable provisioning of trusted hosting infrastructure to
  • fulfil the growing demand of the country and
  • facilitate state of the art service delivery to citizens.

Features of the draft policy

• Provide the Data Center Sector with Infrastructure Status on par with other sectors such as Railways, Roadways, and Power.
• Single Window Clearance: A time-bound, single-window approval mechanism for all the approvals needed to set up a data-center park.
• Incentivization Scheme: The Data Centre Incentivization Scheme (DCIS) will be developed, including the intended beneficiaries, application requirements, and fiscal and non-fiscal incentives available to the industry.
• Data centres will be designated as an essential service under “The Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1968 (ESMA),” which implies that services will be available even in the event of a disaster or catastrophe.
• Inter-Ministerial Empowered Committee (IMEC): It will be established under the chairmanship of the Secretary, MeitY, with involvement from several Central Ministries and State Governments to support the implementation of various sectoral initiatives.
• Data Centre Industry Council (DCIC): It is recommended that an independent Data Centre Industry Council (DCIC) be established to serve as a liaison between the industry and the government.
• Collaboration with the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and top academic institutes to provide workforce training in Data Center, Digital, and Cloud technologies, as well as to promote sector connections for these skilled workers.
• Strengthening the Atmanirbhar Bharat project by finding potential prospects for data centre equipment (both IT and non-IT) production in the nation.
• The policy also outlines areas where micro, small, and medium-sized businesses and start-ups would be able to participate.
• The establishment of data centre parks requires the demarcation of distinct zones with the appropriate infrastructure, such as roads, running water, and power.
• Data centre parks would be encouraged to build up their own power production units and use renewable energy to address the challenges of excessive power usage.

The need for a policy

• Data is used in the launch of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).
• By 2025, India’s digital economy is expected to have grown from USD 200 billion in 2017-18 to USD 1 trillion.
• India also has the advantages of a favourable geographical location on the world map, economic resources, established global connectivity via submarine cables, easy and cost-effective access to power, and readily available skilled manpower, all of which contribute to the country’s ability to become a global Data Centre hub.
• Data localization requirements in the planned personal data protection law, as well as protection of the country’s digital sovereignty.
• India has seen a rapid increase in digital commerce, digital entertainment, and social media usage. India’s mobile data usage is already the world’s biggest and continues to rise.

Issues

• High capital and operational costs.

• Different energy prices across states
• The connection of submarine cable networks is limited to a few states.
• There are no written standards for data centre construction, and there are no specialised building codes.
• The data centre industry is primarily concentrated in the top four cities, with Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai accounting for 60% of all locations.
• Data Centers suffer from a lack of infrastructure and a lack of industry status.
• Complicated clearance procedures and long approvals are the norm.

References:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/explained-recycling-heat-generated-by-datacentres-to-cut-co2-emission/article65248615.ece
2. https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Draft%20Data%20Centre%20Policy%20-%2003112020_v5.5.pdf