Battery leader Saft and industrial group Socomec have delivered a high-performance UPS featuring lithium-ion data batteries for Total’s HPC data centre which hosts one of the world’s largest industrial supercomputer.
Total’s supercomputer is a decision-support tool used for oil & gas exploration and field management. It allows to improve the accuracy of subsurface imaging, optimise the development and production of Total’s fields as well as save time, by shortening the duration of studies.
To protect critical information and calculations for the supercomputer Total required a high-performance UPS and battery system. The main criteria were low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), hot-swappability and integration with its monitoring systems. The scope also included the enhancement of the environmental performance of the data centre through increased energy efficiency and the ability to re-inject power from the UPS into the grid or to support other loads.
To meet these requirements, Saft and Socomec worked together to integrate a Saft Flex’ion battery system into Socomec’s Delphys Xtend GP UPS. Both components are modular and energy efficient so that the UPS can be scaled to meet new additional power and energy requirements over time. A programme of functional testing and certification demonstrated the electrical performance of the system as well as the electronic control interface between the battery and Socomec’s UPS.
Made in Europe, the lithium-ion battery system is sized to deliver 550 kW for up to seven minutes within the voltage window required by the UPS after an operational life of 15 years.
François Danet, Saft’s global business development manager for data centres said: “As a critical component of the UPS for Total’s data centre supercomputer, Saft’s Flex’ion battery systems are supporting Total’s drive towards technological innovation and environmental sustainability.”
Socomec’s technology is hot-swappable to enable extension or maintenance without interrupting data centre operations. The UPS system was installed on a turnkey basis in October 2018 at Total’s Centre Scientifique et Technique Jean Féger (CSTJF) in Pau, France and can be extended by up to 2,400 kW with additional 200 kW modules.
The partners integrated two identical UPS with Flex’ion li-ion batteries for redundancy. The battery system is based on Saft’s proprietary Super Lithium Iron Phosphate (SLFP) technology and was developed specifically for data centres and other mission-critical industries. Saft’s lithium-ion battery technology offers the benefits of low maintenance, safety and high power density, as well as a long life at elevated temperatures, which reduces the need for cooling and ventilation.
A major advantage is that Flex’ion’s electronic battery management can be integrated with control and management, such as building management and SCADA systems, to enable smart monitoring and free up data centre operators to focus on their servers.