Re: Intermittent data centres
> Otherwise they're just pulling power from the grid in whatever mix happens to be co-generating at any given moment.
Have an upvote for that statement of inconvenient (to the greenies) fact.
As you say, there is no such thing as a "green supply" - the electrons come from whatever generating plant is actually working at the time.
But more importantly, even if the renewable supply were connected directly to the data centre, it's still not true to say the supply is green. Every kilowatt of green power used by the datacentre is a kilowatt of "green power" not available to the grid. Therefore, it means "something else" needs to turn up the wick to supply that kilowatt of power to someone else.
So given that nuclear is generally running flat out, using a kilowatt of "green power" in the datacentre means that a coal or gas power station needs to open the tap a bit. In extreme, it means some diesel generator fires up - at times, the UK actually runs diesel generators to meet peak demand.
So yes, the claims about "green power" are just all out and deliberate bollocks. "Greenwash" is a good term for it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
