Efficient Energy Solutions: Huawei Supports Green Transformation of Guangzhou Unicom IDC
Guangzhou Unicom IDC integrates Huawei’s cooling and power solutions to achieve a PUE below 1.3, setting a green standard for data centers. This 76-day project saves over 13 million kWh per year, significantly reducing carbon emissions and reinforcing Unicom’s commitment to sustainable growth.
The China Unicom Internet Application Innovation Base, located in Guangzhou Knowledge City in the Greater Bay Area, is a high-tech hub that integrates smart management, low-carbon sustainability, and reliable security. It covers approximately 199,100 square meters and will be developed in three phases.
Challenges in Green Transformation
The IDC project at China Unicom's Internet Application Innovation Base was initiated in 2015, with Phase 1 designed to a PUE of 1.44 and built to National A and T3+ standards. However, with rising demands for computing power, energy consumption issues have become more pronounced. New national standards for data center efficiency were introduced, yet reducing PUE is particularly challenging given Guangzhou's subtropical climate, high temperatures, and rainfall, with a peak wet-bulb temperature reaching 29.5°C over the last 20 years.
In response to the national dual-carbon policy, Unicom Group initiated a green transformation for existing data centers to improve energy efficiency and achieve a PUE below 1.3. With 80% of the IDC building’s mechanical and electrical systems already completed—including chillers, cooling towers, and transformers—renovating the cooling system posed a major financial challenge. To support rapid business deployment, a fast, cost-effective, and feasible upgrade plan was urgently needed.
Three-Pronged Approach Brings New Opportunities
Huawei's High-Temperature Chilled Water Air Wall with High-Efficiency EC Fan
Huawei’s high-temperature chilled water air wall utilizes its self-developed AeroTurbo EC fan, improving fan efficiency by over 6% and further reducing energy consumption at the cooling water terminals. The fan’s modular design allows hot-swappable maintenance, enabling module replacement within one minute without shutdown, ensuring data center reliability and greatly enhancing maintenance efficiency.
“Smart Online” Mode for Optimal Power Supply
In addition to focusing on the cooling system, the Unicom IDC project also incorporated innovative technology in the power distribution system to meet carbon reduction goals. Huawei’s UPS5000H uninterruptible power supply, featuring a unique “Smart Online” mode, achieves a conversion efficiency of 99.1%, over 3% higher than the industry’s average UPS efficiency of 96%. The Smart Online mode supports seamless 0ms switching and high efficiency across the full load range, addressing harmonic interference and input surge voltage issues to ensure ultra-efficient, uninterrupted power, enabling safe and stable operations.
Intelligent Tuning with “Smart Brain” Technology
With the dual-carbon policy in mind, energy conservation within data centers is increasingly important. This project introduced Huawei’s iCooling@AI efficiency optimization solution, leveraging AI to dynamically match cooling output to IT equipment needs based on real-time data such as IT power consumption and ambient temperature. This reduces cooling waste and allows the data center to “learn” to save energy.
Cheng Bo, Project Head of the Unicom IDC Building, States
“According to the PUE test by China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), at 30% of the designed load with dummy loads, we achieved a PUE of 1.298, significantly below the average PUE of 1.5 for data centers in Guangzhou, marking our project as a benchmark for green data centers.”
This phase of the project took only 76 days from commencement to completion. Compared to other solutions, it is expected to save 13.245 million kWh annually and reduce carbon emissions by 7,695 tons.
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