Trafo Power Solutions has partnered with an Italian transformer manufacturer to supply dry-type transformers for data centres
Increased investment in data centres in Africa is boosting the demand for dry-type transformers.
According to a recent Standard Bank report the trend is driven by advances in connectivity and data consumption, as smartphone use on the continent grows rapidly. Download speeds are rising which, in turn, boosts data consumption. In addition, there is also a global shift towards hosting data closer to where it is consumed, driven by factors such as data protection regulations.
Trafo Power Solutions MD David Claassen highlights that data centres are energy-intensive and need high levels of electrical power and that the appropriate transformers with requisite protection devices are vital to support these applications.
“Dry-type transformers are ideal for data centres, especially from a safety, reliability and environmental perspective,” says Claassen. “In addition, the load characteristics need to be considered. To suit the high percentage of non-linear or harmonic load, for instance, these transformers have a design K-factor of 13.”
Trafo Power Solutions will supply four 1 600 kVA units to a new data centre in Gauteng.
The units were manufactured by Italian transformer original-equipment manufacturer TMC, with whom Trafo Power Solutions has partnered to bring dry-type transformers to the African continent. These low-loss transformers conform to the European Directive EU 548-2014 and are said to provide considerable savings in energy consumption. An electrostatic shield is an important element of the design, diverting leakage currents to ground.
It is likely that new undersea cables to Africa will continue to raise broadband capacity, driving the trend for more data centres to be established locally.