Aurecon’s technical director for buildings on making data centres green

In an interview at Cloud and Infrastructure Edge, Sylvester Kourie, the Technical Director for Buildings at Australian design, engineering, and advisory company Aurecon, shared insights into strategies for meeting the power demands of data centres in the context of AI growth.

The firm is tackling the challenge of powering our digital world while minimising its environmental impact.

A holistic approach to data centre design

Sylvester highlights Aurecon’s holistic approach to facility design, optimising efficiencies from the rack level to the grid connection and leveraging their internal energy team to assess facilities from generation points to rack supply points.

He talks about the importance of understanding load types to improve overall efficiency and sustainability, as well as addressing water limitations, which are becoming increasingly critical alongside energy concerns.

Renewable energy integration: challenges and opportunities

As the world shifts towards renewable energy sources, Sylvester outlines the challenges and opportunities in aligning computing power demands with net zero emissions goals.

He stresses the dynamic nature of the energy mix, balancing renewable sources with grid stability and the potential for data centres to contribute to grid stabilisation.

Sylvester mentions the exploration of on-site generation and microgrids as alternative solutions to traditional fossil fuels, acknowledging Australia’s complex regulatory environment.

Harnessing the power of AI

AI is playing an increasingly important role in the design and operation of data centres. Aurecon is using AI to streamline its processes, improve decision-making, and deliver better outcomes for clients.

For example, they have developed tools to automate the creation of compliance checklists, saving time and reducing errors.

Lessons from the field

Reflecting on his diverse career, Sylvester shares his experiences working in various African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He describes the challenges of working in the DRC, such as extreme poverty and the need for careful planning due to logistical constraints.

Sylvester’s role as a design and commissioning engineer on a remote copper processing plant involved implementing containerised and modular plants, which provided valuable lessons in spares and commissioning planning.

Despite the difficulties, he views his time in the DRC as a formative experience that prepared him for future challenges in his career.

Key takeaways:

• Holistic facility design and efficiency: Aurecon, focuses on optimising data centre design from the rack level to grid connections, improving efficiency and addressing energy and water limitations to enhance sustainability.
• Dynamic energy mix and renewable integration: The shift towards renewable energy sources requires balancing the energy mix, with data centres contributing to grid stabilisation and exploring on-site generation and microgrids to reduce reliance on traditional fossil fuels.
• AI integration and process optimisation: Aurecon leverages AI to improve internal processes and customer service, developing tools for summarising standards and generating compliance checklists, which enhance operational efficiency and ensure data security.