Geberit has launched a new report examining the often-overlooked role of fuel infrastructure in data centre resilience, highlighting how pipework systems can influence the reliability of critical backup power.
Data centres are becoming increasingly critical to the UK economy, supporting everything from healthcare and public services to cloud computing, AI and financial services. As demand for data storage and processing continues to grow, so too does the focus on keeping these facilities operational around the clock.
While significant attention is paid to elements such as cooling systems, electrical infrastructure and generators, Geberit’s report argues that fuel infrastructure can receive far less scrutiny, despite its critical role in ensuring resilience to power backup generators.
The Resilience Imperative: Embedding Fuel Infrastructure Resilience into Data Centre Design explores the role of fuel systems within resilient data centre design, looking at the risks, design considerations and installation challenges facing consultants, designers and project teams.
“As expectations around uptime continue to rise, resilience can no longer be viewed in isolation,” said David Palmer, National Sales Manager – UK & Ireland at Geberit. “It is important to consider full systems too, which includes fuel infrastructure – the pipes, valves and fittings that play a critical role in transferring fuel to ensure backup power performs when it needs to.
“By applying the same principles of redundancy, risk reduction and future-readiness to fuel systems, operators can strengthen resilience across the entire data centre.
“Our report raises the issue and highlights the importance of secondary containment, which provides an additional layer of leak protection around the primary fuel pipe.
“It’s time for project teams to consider not only the piping system itself, but how it’s installed and how it aligns with future fuel strategies,” Palmer concluded.
