WindCORES, Paderborn, Germany

WindCORES, Paderborn, Germany

Supporting an integrated sustainable data centre solution

“It is very important to use sustainable solutions and not throw useable equipment away. Components are valuable long after their warranty period and should be used for as long as they are viable. The automotive industry has already shown how well this works for cars. It’s time we do the same with IT Components for Cloud Services.” 

- Dr. Fiete Dubberke, Executive Director, WindCORES 

PERCENTAGE
SAVING

65% using refurbished solution

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT

Saving on materials usage as well as energy efficiency

UNBEATABLE WARRANTIES

Three-year warranty on all parts

Background

WindCORES is a flagship and forerunner project run by WestfalenWIND IT, a mid-sized Germany-wide sustainable energy provider with 140 turbines in the Paderborn area of North Rhine-Westphalia. The project was launched in 2018 to develop the concept of installing data centres inside wind turbines. Beside the usage of an existing building and supplying infrastructure, the solution capitalises on excess energy produced by the wind farms and uses it to provide low cost, sustainable energy data centres. Currently in pilot stage, the project has the potential to provide rack space for approximately 50 mid-size companies. It has already seen interest from other windfarm operators in the European region.

Following a Techbuyer presentation on refurbished product at CEBIT, they approached the company for a refurbished solution that would fit their compute, memory and storage needs. As a German company, they preferred a local office with the global benefit of high stock levels available at short notice.

The Challenge

With a strong environmental impetus behind the project, management was keen to incorporate hardware that was either surplus to requirements or decommissioned by the first customer and might have otherwise gone to waste. Furthermore, the relative distance of the data centre from a city hub meant they also needed reliable equipment that came with quality guarantees and could be pre-configured to client compute requirements. There was no specific budget for the server section of the project. Nonetheless, limiting costs was preferable during the initial stages.