The census found that global data centre power requirements grew by 63% between 2011 and 2012, up from 24GW to 38GW in a year.
DCD Intelligence, which surveyed 2,000 data centre vendors from around the world, expects energy requirements to grow a further 17% to 43GW in 2013.
The survey also found increase in the average kilowatts (kW) per rack between 2011 and 2012. Globally, the proportion of high density racks over 10kW per rack has increased from 15% in 2011 to 180% in 2012. The number of medium density racks (5-10kW per rack) increased from 30% to 33%.
Interesting Links
The information provider said global investment in facilities management and mechanical and electrical sectors, which included switchgear, uninterruptible power supplies, generators and cooling equipment, is expected to grow as energy demands increase.
The census, which was conducted by DCD Intelligence and surveyed over 2,000 data centre vendors from around the world, found that the total datacentre power requirement in the UK alone is 2.85 GW (gigawatt), of which 650 MW (megawatt) is outsourced.
DCD Intelligence said that the highest power requirement between 2012 and 2013 in UK data centres was accounted for by the financial sector, followed by healthcare, media and telecoms, and the industrial, manufacturing and primary sector.
The report found that there has been an increase in the power requirement of datacentres in the UK of around 5% for in-house facilities and almost 10% for collocation and share facilities.
“There is no evidence of any projected decline in the UK’s datacentre power requirement,” it said. “The rate of projected increase (10 to 15%) will start to plateau through the middle years of the decade as greater efficiencies start to brake the power demands of continuing strong increases in the requirements for ICT capacity.”
Along with rising energy demands, global investment in data centres grew from $86 billion globally in 2011 to $105 billion in 2012, a rise of 22.1%.
"Our forecast for 2013 shows a slower rate of growth but still at a very healthy 14.5% over 2012 levels with a further $15bn of additional investment," said Nicola Hayes, managing director of DCD Intelligence.
