Research Corroborates 400 VAC Adoption in North American Data Centres
New data reveals that 8.0 percent of three-phase, transformer-based power distribution units (PDU) sold into the Americas in 2014 had a distribution voltage of 400 VAC, accounting for $13.9 million of the $155.1 million American PDU market. The recently published IHS study, Data Centre Power Distribution Report "“ 2015, quantifies the market for transformer-based PDU, remote power panels (RPP), static transfer switches, branch circuit monitoring, and overhead busway. In this edition, the PDU and RPP categories are segmented by distribution voltage in order to enable IHS to track the trend of 400 VAC power architectures in American data Centres.
Although the majority of PDUs sold into the Americas are still 480 VAC, accounting for $129.8 million in 2014, the adoption of 400 VAC is growing. This new data on transformer-based PDU distribution voltage further supports data from the Rack Power Distribution Units Report "“ 2015, published earlier this year. In that report, IHS found that 400 VAC rack PDUs accounted for roughly 6 percent of the $418.0 million market. Insights from suppliers of data Centre power distribution equipment reveal that this shift is currently occurring in new data Centre builds in North America.
Typically, the power architecture used in a data Centre depends on the standard voltage of the country in which the data Centre resides. In North America, parts of Central and South America, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, transformer-based PDUs are typically 480 VAC. The transformer steps down the voltage, and power is delivered to the IT racks at 208/120 VAC. In contrast, much of the rest of the world distributes power through the data Centre at 400/230 VAC or 415/240 VAC. Data Centres in North America have begun adopting 400 VAC architectures because it requires reduced electrical drops, can lead to electrical and infrastructure savings, and contributes to overall increases in efficiency.
This shift in power trends has significant implications for the data Centre power distribution hardware market and transformer-based PDUs in particular. Depending on the power path in the data Centre, using a 400VAC architecture could result in either a PDU with a smaller transformer, or the removal of the PDU altogether if the power is to be transformed elsewhere in the power path, like an upstream transformer or at the UPS. Thus, further adoption of 400 VAC could dampen PDU revenue growth, unit growth, or both. However, it could bolster sales of RPPs, which serve the same purpose of distributing power but lack the transformer.
