At the core of Teraco’s infrastructure strategy is the relentless pursuit of availability and reliability without compromise.
Our approach to designing and operating data centres ensures that resilience, efficiency, and performance are enhanced while actively supporting our broader sustainability objectives.
Optimising generators for reliability and efficiency
Resilience begins with power. Generator sets are fundamental to ensuring uptime during electrical grid failure scenarios, yet they are typically underutilised, often running at low loads. Our latest design focuses on optimal load conditions, running generators up to design specification under normal operations and reserving full-load performance strictly for emergency conditions.
Our overall design is based on an N+1 distributed redundant system, with enhanced functionality. Through intelligent grouping of generators sets, we have managed to optimise the number of generator sets required during low load conditions. This dramatically reduces fuel consumption and emissions levels during power failures, while also improving the overall redundancy of the system.
What sets Teraco apart is our in-house development team, design and commissioning systems, and testing methodologies. Consulting engineers and specialist contractors work with these teams to assist with the design, testing, and commissioning of our systems, allowing us to verify system responses across a wide range of conditions, which ultimately reduces operational risks. This system allows for real-time performance feedback, ensuring generators run at higher efficiency, directly enhancing reliability and reducing our overall environmental impact.
Cooling: a data-driven evolution
Cooling systems have seen one of the most transformative sustainability upgrades in our facilities:
- From DX systems to closed loop chilled water systems, centralised plant design has increased redundancy per data centre and enhanced efficiency of running the equipment needed for the IT load.
- Direct free cooling brings fresh air into the data centre in a controlled, risk-mitigated way, demonstrating our drive for continuous improvement and finding efficiencies.
- We leverage efficient indirect free cooling strategies to maintain a consistent Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
- Design flexibility allows us to scale free cooling capacity (from 50% to 100%) depending on client needs, which supports a balance between performance and sustainability.
- Teraco also uses AI powered technology able to configure cooling based on IT load and load dispersion within data centres.
For now, air cooling still plays a critical role in our cooling designs. However, liquid cooling ready systems are being implemented across our newest builds.
Digital twins and predictive modelling
With extensive operational data available, we can accurately predict PUE and simulate design outcomes for all our new and existing facilities. Using digital twin technology, we validate real-world performance against predictive models, refining our designs based on live and historical data.
This capability allows us to:
- Model airflow and water pressure dynamics,
- Adjust hot aisle sizing and floor tile spacing,
- Run simulations with ambient temperature, SLA, and performance variables in mind, and
- Include solar panel infrastructure design considerations like framing, supports, and inverter integration.
Commissioning and data-driven design feedback
A standout capability is our in-house commissioning team and custom-developed commissioning tool. This tool benchmarks design expectations and validates system performance under low load and high load conditions, ensuring that real-world results match engineering intentions.
By capturing and analysing operational data during commissioning, we can confirm and optimise configuration settings; tailor designs for specific client requirements; and build a feedback loop that continuously influences our future design philosophy. Furthermore, during commissioning, we can simulate various load scenarios that allow us to setup our systems for better performance and efficiency.
Sustainability in practice
Our infrastructure strategy proves that high availability (99.999% uptime) and sustainability can certainly coexist. From intelligent generator operations and dynamic cooling models to digital twins and in-house commissioning, every step of our infrastructure journey is geared towards reduced energy consumption, lower emissions and operational overheads, and adaptability to evolving client needs and environmental objectives.
At Teraco, we’re not just building data centres – we’re building a resilient, efficient, and future-ready digital ecosystem.
