Secure I.T. Environments upgrades data centre cooling infrastructure

New infrastructure will cut running costs and enables more efficient use of free cooling, achieving ROI in under three years.

  • Friday, 26th April 2024 Posted 2 years ago in by Phil Alsop

Secure I.T. Environments has completed data centre cooling upgrades at Royal Devon University Healthcare, NHS Foundation Trust, that will dramatically reduce energy costs, achieving ROI in under three years.

The works, which are the latest in a series of projects SITE has conducted for the trust in recent years, replace existing cooling infrastructure with three new indoor units that improve efficiency. The free cooling solution, allows the data centre to operate in a higher temperature free cooling configuration for a greater proportion of the year, taking advantage of ambient temperatures and lowering running costs.

Each unit combines direct expansion air cooling and an energy efficient FreeCool circuit, as well as including built-in compressors for the direct expansion circuit. External Hybrid Heat Rejection (HHR) units were also fitted on site. The new installation is projected to enable the data centre to achieve a PUE of 1.14, and Cooling PUE of 1.10

Chris Wellfair, projects director at Secure I.T. Environments, said, “The primary source of operating expenditure (OPEX) for data centres is electricity. Whilst maintaining the climate conditions within a data centre is critical, the ASHRAE TC9.9 2016 thermal guidelines now give confidence to operators that they can control the indoor temperature at higher levels. This combined with the efficiencies gained with new equipment will dramatically lower energy costs at RDEF and achieve a return on investment in under three years.”

The installation was conducted over three phases, ensuring the data centre could remain live supporting hospital and patient services. Secure I.T. Environments was responsible for the decommissioning of existing units, installation of new equipment, including electrical works, configuration and testing. 

Apx Data Centre Solutions is strengthening its ability to drive innovation and growth across...
12th September 2026 marks the second year of the awareness day, created to help recognise the role...
A globally repeatable blueprint for cooling gigawattscale AI factories efficiently and sustainably.
Partnership combines modular data centres with clean, flexible energy to meet rising AI demand...
Legrand has been chosen by Start Campus, a pioneer in the building and operating of 100% renewable,...
Collaboration combines Veolia's advanced water reuse technologies with Amazon AI and cloud...
Centrica and Delta Electronics announce a partnership to deliver scalable, on-site power for...
A new Hoare Lea report finds that data centre planning applications are being delayed by an average...