Data Center Power Distribution

What you'll learn

• Describe how data centers connect to the grid, calculate currents at transmission and distribution voltages, size substation transformers with redundancy, and evaluate power factor and electricity bills
• Estimate facility load from measured IT power, design-day mechanical load, diversity and redundancy, and plan phased growth and AI load dynamics
• Select medium-voltage arrangements and switchgear, and calculate transformer full-load current, fault current, losses and efficiency
• Specify medium-voltage cables and insulation levels, derate duct banks for mutual heating, calculate feeder drop and losses, and size neutral grounding resistors
• Lay out low-voltage distribution from switchboards through UPS, PDUs, busway and rack PDUs, sizing circuits for continuous load and A/B redundancy at 208 V and 415 V
• Size low-voltage feeders through overcurrent protection, corrected ampacity, parallel sets, voltage drop and harmonic neutral current
• Estimate short-circuit currents, check equipment ratings and coordination, and reduce arc flash incident energy
• Assess sags against the ITI curve, plan ride-through for mechanical loads, and quantify harmonics, K-factor, unbalance and leading power factor
• Explain fault return paths and neutral bonding, calculate electrode resistance and tolerable touch voltage, and apply telecom bonding, lightning and surge protection
• Design metering for PUE and capacity management, apply the A + B rule, choose communication protocols, plan load shedding and secure the monitoring network
• Apply the electrical code and workplace safety standards to continuous loads, ground fault protection, grounding and bonding, working space, labeling, standby systems and commissioning
• Produce electrical design deliverables and studies, maintain systems to NFPA 70B or CSA Z463, and evaluate emerging high-power DC and MV architectures