There is a severe shortage of large power components in Europe. Supply chains are oversubscribed, and bottlenecks have built up, increasing lead times for high-voltage transformers, generators and switchgear. This chart illustrates the problem:
Once sourced in 6 months, delivery times for high-voltage step-up/step-down transformers now require an average lead time of almost two years, (and sometimes a great deal longer). This is over twice the average in North America and four times as long as the massive and integrated Asia Pacific market.
Average lead times are around 80 weeks.
Average lead times of a year.
Why is this? There are several causes, some global and some regional:
What is the best way for data centre customers to deal with this? Here are four things to consider:
1) Early engagement
Whether looking for prime power design for a microgrid or back up power for a grid-connected facility, the key is clearly to shift the planning forward, and this involves early engagement with power solution providers. Operators are now ordering critical grid components years in advance, often before final site timelines and permits are secured. Conditional Purchase Orders are becoming standard tools to lock in delivery windows.
2) Strategic partner selection
Partner selection is also key, as not all power solution providers have the requisite relationships in place. Select a partner with close relationships with a wide range of world-class partners. AVK´s partnerships cover every power solution component, from transformers, generators and engines to acoustic containers to switch gear to fuel tanks. This delivers flexibility at the early design stage, and can also streamline the supply chain, supporting customers with ambitious timeframes.
3) Scale and dedicated slots
Scale and track record of power solution partners is also key. For instance, AVK has long-standing partnerships with Wärtsilä and Rolls-Royce mtu, who provide our prime (up to 23 MW combined cycle gas turbines) and backup (up to 3.2 MW high-speed diesel/HVO) engines respectively. The stronger the partnership is, the easier it is to price, plan and implement projects. For instance, our Rolls-Royce mtu partnership, which has now been in place for seven years, includes a dedicated factory allocation for hundreds of high-speed diesel/HVO engines. We recently expanded this agreement to take the growth of the market into account, with guaranteed year-on-year increases in equipment allocation on condition that we purchase a pre-agreed base figure. This gives us and our customers an edge when it comes to planning and delivery.
4) End-to-end energy solutions
One way of simplifying and speeding up the process is to outsource the bundle of critical power components you need to a single end-to-end solution provider. AVK recently added PowerPods to its product portfolio to address precisely this need. A PowerPod is a modular energy switchroom, housing the critical electrical infrastructure responsible for safe and efficient distribution of electrical power. PowerPods are designed to help data centres scale quickly and reliably. They are built in a new state-of-the-art 140,000sq ft facility that has capacity for 23-25 PowerPods at any given time, sourcing components via non-exclusive relationships with a range of manufacturers, which guards against supply bottlenecks. And they are backed up and maintained by a team that has worked with switchroom gear for decades.
You can find out more about AVK PowerPods here.
5) Future-proofing
Bearing in mind current lead times, and to meet your own sustainability targets, another key consideration should be environmental compliance. Regulations move fast in Europe, and can tighten in the time it takes to procure and deliver a large customised power solution. Your large power components need to be future-proofed, which means higher efficiency and recycled material levels for transformers (EU 2025/2052), and selecting new generator fuel models which are adaptable for fuels ranging from HVO100 (a carbon-free diesel substitute) to hydrogen. If you engage with them early enough, and if they are engaged with manufacturer R&D teams, your solution provider should be able to advise on what the next generation of equipment can deliver. New components are not launched overnight and in some cases release dates are available years in advance.
With the market moving so fast, it is not just the component supply chains that are stretching. While planning and procurement windows are constantly moving closer and covering longer timespans, specifications are shifting too, to accommodate new CPUs and GPUs as well as evolving OEM specifications and new market regulations.
Collaboration and information sharing about possible developments on both the client and the solution provider side will help us to navigate this fast-changing and power-constrained period. If you have any questions or possible projects to discuss, please do not hesitate to get in touch to arrange a meeting.
At the planning stage for your project? Read our recent article on how AVK is driving improvements and efficiencies in design: Three Steps to Prime Power Design.