Streaming a movie, opening a file in the cloud, or using an AI application: behind many digital services are servers in data centers. As we process more and more data and use online services, the need for data center capacity is also growing. All those servers require a lot of power and produce heat. The electrical installation and cooling must therefore work together reliably from day one.

If something only goes wrong after commissioning, the consequences can be serious. An outage can interrupt digital services, while detecting and fixing the problem in a running data center is complex and costly. Therefore, the infrastructure is tested under realistic load before the servers are placed.

For a data center project in the Netherlands, Jeco Energies made that load test possible with a large-scale load bank setup. Load banks take controlled power and thus simulate future server consumption. We supplied and installed 4 load banks of 1 MW, 3 of 6 MVA and more than 100 of 200 kW, including the necessary cabling and accessories. This allowed the load to be simulated at different locations in the data center.

The setup was used during integrated system tests, among other things. This checked how the electrical distribution, UPS systems, emergency generators and cooling performed together. The control and safety systems were also included.

Our specialists took care of the installation, commissioning and monitoring of the test set-up. In this way, Jeco Energies helped to uncover potential problems at a time when they can still be addressed without interrupting an operational data center.

At a Glance:

• 4 × 1 MW load banks
• 3 × 6 MVA load banks
• More than 100 × 200 kW load banks
• Installation and monitoring