Data Center Generator Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

The data center generator market has witnessed significant growth over the last few years. Increased investments from colocation and cloud service providers are the major contributors to the growth of the market. The increasing construction of hyperscale data centers and facilities with a power capacity over 15 MW of Tier III and Tier IV standards is likely to increase the procurement of generators. A majority of facilities built in 2019 were Tier III facilities and adopting N+N or 2N redundant backup sources. The procurement of diesel generators is high in regions such as the Americas, Middle East & Africa, and Western Europe.

While the world economies are reeling under the unprecedented devastation caused by the outbreak of coronavirus, the data center generator market is affected to a nominal extent with several data center infrastructure have been requested to halt manufacturing and production activities across a few countries or cities worldwide. The pandemic has affected the shipment and caused supply chain disruptions, affecting the sale of several infrastructure providers in Q1 2020, which is likely to continue in the Q2 2020. While the pandemic has affected China in Q1 2020, the outbreak is likely to affect countries such as the US, Italy, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, India, and Southeast Asia in the Q2 2020.

SNIPPETS 

• The total number of data center construction projects identified across the world were over 450
• Hyperscale facility development will continue to boost the market for generators with less than 21 MW capacity
• The increased construction of edge data centers is likely to drive the demand for less than 1 MW generators after 2022
• Southeast Asia, Australia, and parts of APAC are expected to witness the adoption of DRUPS systems in the next five years

DATA CENTER GENERATOR MARKET: SEGMENTATION

This research report includes a detailed segmentation by

• Generators Capacity
• Systems
• Tier Standards
• Geography

INSIGHTS BY GENERATOR CAPACITY

In North America, data center facilities with a power capacity of over 10 MW are adopting diesel generators with over 2 MW in redundancy and N+1 configuration. Several facilities are more likely to adopt generators in N+1 redundant configuration with onsite fuel storage capacity to provide more than 48 hours of runtime. The adoption of generators with a power capacity of over 2 MW is more commonly observed across the world. Facilities with a power capacity of over 20 MW have been witnessed to have adopted over 3 MW systems. This includes cryptocurrency facilities, as they consume a lot of power.

Service operators are more likely to procure diesel generators due to lower fuel prices. The availability of renewable energy with a strong grid has not affected the Nordic market yet as the operators are continuously building Tier III facilities with N+1 or N redundant configuration.  The adoption of diesel systems with redundant configuration is high in APAC. Several data centers, especially in Southeast Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, and Australia, are involved in the procurement of DRUPS systems that ignore the use of VRLA-based UPS systems.

INSIGHTS BY SYSTEMS

Data center operators are highly reliable on diesel generators. However, the use of these power sources in highly populated areas has become exorbitant and exceedingly non-sustainable. Local governing bodies are implementing stringent regulations to reduce carbon footprint and emission levels. Continuous research and development have led to the development of innovative gas and bi-fuel systems. Gas systems can be installed in parallel with the electricity grid supply to reduce the electricity consumption of data centers. Facilities that are developed in areas nearer to areas that produce natural gas can use gas as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to diesel models. However, gas systems have several disadvantages, which can hinder their market share.

DRUPS systems have been used in the data center industry over a decade now. The use of these systems is predominant in a few operators, especially in European countries, Singapore, and Australia. These systems can save floor space of up to 50% in data centers, and hence are ideal solutions for facilities that have space constraints, especially in commercial buildings. The use of DRUPS systems is nominal than generators in the market. There were instances in the past three years where DRUPS systems have been responsible for data center outages in facilities. Running multiple DRUPS systems in 2N redundant configuration will be a key for the successful operations for data centers. Factors such as voltage sag, synchronization-related failures, bad fuel, maintenance, and mechanical issues, and human errors are the factors, which are increasing the adoption of DRUPS systems.  With the data center generator market still being dominated by diesel gensets, the adoption of DRUPS systems is likely to witness slow growth during the forecast period.

INSIGHTS BY TIER STANDARDS

A majority of under-developed projects across the world fall under the Tier III category. There are more than 350 projects that are open and under construction that fall under the Tier III category. This trend is likely to continue during the forecast period, with several operators expected to move to the Tier IV category based on the growth in rack power density and critical data center applications. Most new facilities are designed to be Tier III standards with a minimum of N+1 redundancy in systems and can be reconfigured with up to 2N+1 redundancy. Currently, over 50 Tier IV projects, which were either open or under construction in 2019. All hyperscale self-built facilities are considered as Tier IV data centers. North America is the dominating region, followed by Asia and Western Europe, in terms of the number of projects observed. These facilities generate more revenue for the market, with focused investment on highly efficient power systems. The significant announcements from hyperscale operators such as Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, AWS, and Google in investments will be a significant boost for the data center generator market growth during the forecast period.

INSIGHTS BY GEOGRAPHY

The data center generator market in Western Europe is growing with an increase in the construction of large facilities that are likely to procure generators. The increasing number of data centers in the UK has fueled the demand for generators as backup power sources. The market is still growing with the adoption of diesel models. The data center generator market is growing with the increasing adoption of diesel ones with a power capacity of over 2 MW. France has witnessed significant growth in the adoption of multiple backup power sources. Several operators with a power capacity of over 20 MW are more likely to procure more than five systems with a power capacity of over 3 MW.

Nordic countries with high availability of reliable power and renewable energy sources might affect the data center generator market. However, the market growth will not be affected to a large extent since they are critical for providing backup power in data centers. Facebook and Apple have scrapped the plan of the second facility in Denmark. Facebook has designed its facility to reduce the adoption of capacity by 70% because Denmark has strong grid stability of over 99.99%, which reduces the reliability of the system. The availability of renewable energy sources and tax incentives will increase the construction of facilities in the country during the forecast period.

The US dominates the North American data center generator market. The market has witnessed high investments from colocation providers, hyperscale operators, enterprises, and government agencies. Among the projects implemented in 2019, around 35% had a power capacity of 5–15 MW, 28% had more than 15 MW of capacity, and 35% of the projects had up to 5 MW of power capacity.  North America is also witnessing an increasing usage of renewable energy sources. Several US states offer tax incentives for the operators. In 2019, Illinois was the state to offer tax incentives for data center operations. 

KEY VENDOR ANALYSIS

The global data center generator market is competitive and comprises multiple pure-play vendors offering diesel, gas, and DRUPS systems with a capacity of up to 3.5 MW. The diesel segment will witness increasing competition for a system with a power capacity of over 2 MW. Strong relationships with engine manufactures are critical for the providers. Although the adoption of DRUPS systems across the globe is low compared to diesel/gas systems, the penetration of DRUPS systems is growing in the market in recent years. Caterpillar, Kohler, Generac, and Cummins hold the majority market share.

The market is likely to get affected by the delay in shipment of generators as well as raw material supply due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The construction of new projects might be delayed by a quarter, thereby affecting the revenue of several vendors in the market.

The data center generator market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue and power capacity from 2019 to 2025 for the following segments: 

Systems 

• Generators
• DRUPS

Generator Capacities

• <1MW
• 1–2MW
• >2MW

Tier Standards 

• Tier I &II
• Tier III
• Tier IV

Geography

• North America
  • US
  • Canada
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Other Latin American Countries
• Western Europe
  • UK
  • Germany
  • France
  • Netherlands
  • Ireland
  • Other Western European Countries
• Nordic
  • Denmark
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Finland & Iceland
• Central & Eastern Europe
  • Russia & Czech Republic
  • Poland & Austria
  • Other Countries
• Middle East
  • GCC
  • Other Middle Eastern Countries
• Africa
  • South Africa
  • Morocco
  • Other African Countries
• APAC
  • China & Hong Kong
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • India
  • Japan
  • Southeast Asia
  • Rest of APAC