Release Date: February 6, 2007
Contact: PG&E News Department (415) 973-5930

PG&E Leading Coalition Of U.S. Utilities To Capture Energy Efficiency Opportunities In Data Centers Utilities to Share Program and Service Models, and Market Strategies in Booming Tech Sector

SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced today that it is leading the formation of a nationwide coalition of utilities to discuss and coordinate energy efficiency programs for the high tech sector, focusing on data centers.

"We have developed program and service offerings for the information technology industry, and sharing our knowledge with other utilities will drive energy savings and environmental benefits more widely in this rapidly expanding market," said Roland Risser, Director of Customer Energy Efficiency at PG&E.

PG&E offers a comprehensive portfolio of program and service offerings for the high tech sector, including financial incentives for customers who pursue energy efficiency projects in their data centers. The company was the first to offer incentives for virtualization and server consolidation, a program that is prompting customers to remove underutilized computing equipment using virtualization technology.

PG&E has already undertaken coordination efforts with Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric so that program offerings are consistent across the state, and is now reaching out to utilities in key markets across the country.

"The Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, and Northeast are on the top of our list, because these areas have the greatest concentrations of data centers," said Mark Bramfitt, High Tech Segment Manager for PG&E.

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), TXU Electric Delivery, Austin Energy, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and NSTAR, have all signed on to the coalition.

Many regions across the U.S. are experiencing huge new demands for electric infrastructure as data center operators construct new facilities. Nationwide, existing data centers are experiencing space, cooling, and energy capacity issues. Utilities such as PG&E are offering energy efficiency programs to help customers live within their existing data centers, and to moderate the energy impact of new ones.

Data centers can use up to one hundred times the energy per square foot of typical office space, so the energy efficiency opportunities are significant. "A customer choosing from our menu of programs, which include cooling system improvements, high-efficiency power conditioning equipment retrofits, airflow management tune-ups, virtualization, and replacement of computing and data storage equipment with the latest technologies can generally drive a third to as much as half of the energy use out of their operations," according to Bramfitt.

The virtualization and server consolidation program is generating tremendous customer and industry interest, with some customers reducing their equipment counts by ninety percent or more. One PG&E customer made use of virtualization technology to consolidate 230 servers onto just eleven new machines, and is now considering a second project to consolidate an additional 1000 servers.

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

"The Northwest is experiencing substantial growth in data centers with new facilities recently constructed or announced by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others. With relatively low-cost power co-located with access to high-bandwidth internet infrastructure many more facilities are projected to be landing in the four-state area in the near future. The electric load represented by these facilities is significant and it is in everyone's best interest to build-in as much efficiency as possible. NEEA is pleased to join with other organizations nationally to identify and encourage efficiency in this industry."

Contact: Stacey Hobart, Manager of Corporate Marketing and Communications, 503-827-8416

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

"As part of NYSERDA's mission to use innovation and technology to solve New York's most difficult energy and environmental problems in ways that improve the State's economy, it is of utmost importance that we proactively address the increasing energy demand of the rapidly expanding IT infrastructure in New York State."

Contact: Pierre D. Bull, Assistant Project Manager, (518) 862-1090 x3353

NSTAR

"The high tech sector is ripe for energy efficiency improvements," said Penni McLean-Conner, Vice President of Customer Care at NSTAR. "We look forward to working on this nationwide effort to implement new energy efficiency strategies here in Massachusetts."

Contact: Caroline Allen, NSTAR, (617) 424-2460