“Northmore Gordon worked closely with us over eight months to achieve funding from the VEUVictorian Energy Upgrades is a Victorian government energy efficiency program that gives every Victorian household and business the opportunity to receive rebates or discounts on energy saving products. Program. They ensured the complex requirements of the program were met with full compliance and in accord with the satisfaction of the regulator; importantly this also maximised the certificate value on a VEECVictorian Energy Efficiency Certificate volatile market.”
– Michael Roberts, National DC Faclities Manager
The Client
5G Networks is a licensed telecommunications carrier operating across Australia. Our mission is to be the partner of choice for unifying a seamless digital experience for our customers across data connectivity, cloud and data centre services, all underpinned by our expert managed services. 5GN Networks owns and operates data centres in a number of locations including Sydney, North Sydney and Melbourne where they securely host customer servers and data.
Our Role
Northmore Gordon worked through all the complexities of the Victorian Energy Upgrade Program to maximise the financial incentives. Northmore Gordon worked tirelessly to ensure all the regulators requirements and queries were satisfied. This included created the measurement & verification (M&V) plan, collected site data and supporting evidence, and built the baseline and operating energy models to calculate the energy savingsElectricity or gas savings or both.. Northmore Gordon also provided us with price certainty to ensure the customer received the payment they had forecast.
Challenges
• Competitive pressures to provide high quality service whilst minimising underlying costs
• Energy bills represent a substantial cost to data centre operators
• Aging equipment could impact reliability
Key Facts
Certificate Value: ~$85,000, Payback: ~ 4 Years
Equipment Upgraded: UPS, BMSBuilding management system, used to control the operation of the energy using equipment in the building., Aisle Partitioning
Annual Savings: Energy: 310 MWh, Carbon Abatement: 335 tCO2e
OPEX: ~$50,000
Project Value: CAPEX: ~ $300,000
Program: Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU)
Method: Project Based Activities (PBAProject Based Activities)
Additional Benefits
• Better equipment UPS reliability
• Better computer equipment operating conditions
• Faulty and inefficient auxillary equipment (pumps) identified during the measurement and verification approach
The Project
To stay competitive in the market 5G Networks concluded that energy efficiency upgrades were required at their recently acquired Melbourne Data Centre. The upgrades included the installation of two new high efficiency Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), a new Building Management System (BMS), and temperature set point and chiller optimisation. In addition, a hot aisle / cold aisle approach was implemented to optimise airflow and cooling of the equipment.
For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com
