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Datacenter Mall goes solar

Indianapolis gets a 4 MW solar power plant dedicated to a datacenter
Written by David Chernicoff, Contributor

Lifeline Data Centers, a provider of wholesale datacenter colocation services, has announced plans to add solar power to their former shopping mall turned datacenter in Indianapolis. In a project that really highlights the repurposing of existing facilities into modern data centers. Lifeline started with the rebuilding of a failed, 370,000 square foot, shopping mall that had closed its doors for good in 2004  They reopened it with a 50,000 sq t datacenter space that was expanded another 40,000 sq ft last year to keep up with the demand for the services the facility was providing to customers.

In their next stage in staying at the cutting of energy they plan to become one of the first large datacenters available for commercial use that is powered primarily through solar power.  They are partnering with New Generation Power and Indianapolis Power & Light to install a utility-grade 4 MW solar power generation facility with a projected lifespan of 25 years.

The solar panels will be installed on the facility rooftop and part5 of the top of the parking structure on site and operated by the power utility.

Lenape_Rendering
Artist rendering of the completed project

 

New Generation Power estimates that the solar installation a CO2 offset of 3881 metric tons annually, which they describe as equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 808 passenger vehicles, CO2 emissions from 435,036 gallons of gasoline consumed, and CO2 emissions from 9,024 barrels of oil consumed. The project is expected to be operational in November.

 

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