[Possible OT] California, and running off of generators for extended periods

Tue Jan 16 09:49:00 UTC 2001

> Question:  Why would (or wouldn't) your company switch your datacenter
> loads to generator (or other off-mains) power sources, if you had the
> capability and/or capacity?

1. Due to price caps, it costs me less to take electricity from PG&E
   (which, because I run a datacenter 24x7, I don't take with time-of-use
   metering) than it does to run my generator on diesel. Especially so
   if I factor in the non-fuel costs of operation.

2. My permit from the local air quality management district restricts me
   to operation when the utility is offline plus a total of 60 hours per
   year for all testing. I would need to apply for a permit for a different
   type of operation (voluntary load shedding, peak shaving, or prime
   generation) and for that, a full environmental impact report is required.
   Given #1, it isn't worth my trouble. (And my AQMD is the Monterey Bay
   AQMD... I can't even imagine the pain of applying in the Los Angeles area)

3. Other than as a PR effort, this doesn't make as much sense as having
   some industry which uses much more power than the Internet data center
   industry do this. Perhaps an industry which can easily move their peak
   load to a different hour of the day.

Of course, if we had *real* deregulation, my price for power as a commercial
user would closely reflect the utility's cost for power, and they might even
charge me differently by time of use whether or not I wanted that... then
the cost equation changes for item 1, and I'd have an incentive to go look
at the true costs of item 2.

-matthew kaufman
 Tycho Networks/DSL.net
 matthew at tycho.net