Scaling of the DeepSquare technology within the Swiss energy system

Semester project
Spring 2023

Context

The High Performance Computing (HPC) industry is facing many challenges due to the increasing demand for computing services. Environmental sustainability is one of them as large amounts of energy are consumed by computing systems and infrastructures. According to some estimates, the HPC industry consumes 2% of the world’s energy production, which involves significant carbon emissions. The main challenges regarding the energy needs of HPC are twofold: i) the electricity used to power data centers is converted to heat; ii) the heat must be dissipated to maintain an optimal operating environment. Currently, the heat induced by data centers is generally not recovered or reused, and cooling systems are very inefficient, resulting in an average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.59 (59% of the energy consumed by the data center is devoted to cooling the system down). Based on the emerging technology of “immersion cooling”, combined with an efficient heat recovery system, DeepSquare, a non-profit organization providing HPC services in Switzerland, offers a solution to these challenges.

The project / tasks

While 2 proof-of-concepts have been implemented in Sion and Basel and several studies have already been conducted by DeepSquare, the objective of this master thesis is to evaluate the integration and scaling of the technology proposed by DeepSquare in the Swiss energy system: - What are the conditions (technological, economic and legal) to scale up DeepSquare technology in Switzerland? - Which types of infrastructure (e.g. thermal networks or decentralized heating systems at the housing level) should be targeted? - What are the optimal conditions (technical, operational, economic and environmental) for the generated heat to be efficiently recovered and consumed? - What are the potential opportunities and barriers related to Swiss energy actors business practices and development strategies?

Skills

We expect the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach, relying on both research methods and tools related to engineering fields combined with sociological and economic approaches. Expected results: scenario analysis, market potentialities assessment, business models, analysis of technological and socio-economic constraints and opportunities.

Administrative

If interested, please send your CV and transcript to Prof. Manuele Margni.

Location

This research work will be conducted at EPFL, Sion office. Travel expense (one day per week) will be reimbursed.

Supervisors

Prof. Francois Marechal, francois.marechal@epfl.ch
Prof. Manuele Margni, manuele.margni@hevs.ch