Kim Kyung-rok, CEO of Schneider Electric Korea, stated that data centers must achieve sustainability.

Schneider Electric Korea held a press conference on the 15th at the InterContinental Hotel in COEX as part of the 'Innovation Day - Future Data Center' event.

At a press conference, Kim Kyung-rok, CEO of Schneider Electric Korea, stated, “As the number of domestic and international companies focusing on ‘eco-friendliness’ in ESG management increases, attention is also being concentrated on reducing power consumption and operating costs, as well as carbon emissions, in terms of data center operations.” He added, “99% of large corporate CEOs agreed that sustainability is important for future business growth, 75% of investment professionals responded that sustainability performance is an important factor when judging investments in companies, and 49% of the world’s annual GDP is generated in countries, regions, and cities implementing carbon-neutral policies, so data centers must achieve sustainability.”

The number of domestic data centers increased by 36.8% from 114 in 2012 to 156 in 2020, and revenue has grown by 9.7% annually over the past three years, with it expected to surpass 3 trillion won in 2021.

At least 19 new colocation data centers are scheduled to be built by 2024, and with an average annual growth rate of 34.6% from 2021 to 2024, they are expected to reach a total IT power supply capacity of 951 MW.

Amidst this, as the Green New Deal and sustainability have recently become hot topics, green data centers that improve energy efficiency are receiving renewed attention. Major domestic data centers are also adopting technologies to enhance cooling and energy efficiency by utilizing external air cooling, solar cells, waste heat reuse, and modular UPS systems.

In line with this trend, Schneider Electric has focused for decades on smart solutions that electrify the energy of data and storage and improve energy efficiency. In particular, regarding data centers, we provide various solutions to achieve operational efficiency and decarbonization through digitalization and the utilization of renewable energy.

Schneider Electric establishes bold and feasible strategies for ESG management and maximizes yield by managing the implementation process of efficient designs, such as improving UPS efficiency and airflow, and implementing rate-efficient cooling/saving devices.

In addition, the connected system provides visibility into key systems and tracks energy usage, while pursuing operational efficiency and safety through preventive maintenance services.

Here, the impact on sustainability is being minimized by installing renewable energy sources such as solar panels or purchasing renewable energy through external power purchase agreements, and by eliminating carbon emissions in the supply chain.

Schneider Electric’s eco-friendly data center solutions include data center integrated control systems, enterprise-colocation data centers, data center building control and management solutions, and edge computing small data center solutions.

Kim Kyung-rok, CEO of Schneider Electric Korea, stated, “Schneider Electric, which has been working to make the world more eco-friendly by considering ESG factors for the past 15 years, aimed to use this event to provide insights into establishing eco-friendly data centers that meet ESG requirements and to introduce necessary solutions to companies operating data centers.” He added, “Schneider Electric will be a partner in helping companies build the data centers of the future that can achieve operational efficiency and decarbonization.”