Digital infrastructure company Equinix and the Centre for Energy Research & Technology (CERT) under the National University of Singapore’s College of Design and Engineering (NUS CDE) have announced a plan to set up a Co-Innovation Facility (CIF) in Singapore to accelerate the testing and development of innovative solutions focused on low-carbon energy, high-efficiency cooling, circularity, and energy efficiency optimisation for data centres
The Co-Innovation Facility will incubate liquid cooling, cognitive digital twins, and other innovations for digital infrastructure that supports sustainability in tropical locations. These innovations will shape the future of digital infrastructure and services in Singapore and other tropical locations, as well as address sustainability goals.
To be built inside Equinix’s upcoming SG6 International Business Exchange data centre, the CIF aligns with Equinix’s Data Centre of the Future Initiative toward building cleaner, more efficient data centres worldwide. This CIF will be an open research hub for leading global technology innovators, data centre technology partners, academia, and customers to co-develop and trial core and edge technologies that deliver reliability, energy efficiency, and cost efficiency.
Equinix operates 268 data centres across 73 metros, providing digital infrastructure for over 10,000 businesses globally.
With an initial investment of USD4 million from Equinix, the CIF will serve as an incubator to trial innovations such as enabling the integration of clean and renewable energy sources and alternative power generation, with the aim of assessing their ability to operate at scale. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will also be utilised by the facility along with other advancements, such as liquid cooling, which is becoming more vital as AI makes data processing more compute-intensive. The facility will also trial cognitive digital twin capabilities of predictive maintenance and upgrades to address challenges faced by current data centre models.
To be opened in Q1 2027, the CIF will trial sustainable innovations for data centres, such as:
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Alternative power solutions: Alternative power generation solutions such as fuel cells and battery storage, can provide low-carbon power solutions for data centres, serving as bi-directional grid interfaces and on-site prime and/or backup solutions.
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Direct current power distribution system: An electrical power distribution architecture known as medium voltage AC to low-voltage DC (MVAC-LVDC) facilitates the seamless integration of battery energy storage system, solar photovoltaics and other renewable energy sources coupled to the data centre power distribution network, with the potential to enhance grid-side power quality, efficiency, and power density for data centres.
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Liquid cooling: This advanced cooling method reduces energy consumption and noise while optimising space. It also increases the potential for waste heat reuse, supporting circular data centre models.
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Digital twin capabilities: Data-driven model and machine learning will be utilised to enable predictive maintenance and upgrades.
“The effects of climate change are being felt around the world, and it is becoming increasingly urgent to embed best practices in every aspect of our operations,” said Equinix Singapore’s MD Yee May Leong. “By replicating our successful Co-Innovation Facility from Ashburn and expanding our collaborative efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, we are reaching a significant milestone in advancing our future first sustainability agenda. It will accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies and apply real-world solutions to help reduce the carbon footprint of the growing number of data centres worldwide.”
Singapore’s digital economy has grown at a compound annual growth rate of around 13% since 2017, contributing 17.3% to its gross domestic product in 2022. Furthermore, according to the recent 2024 National Budget, Singapore is strengthening its position as a global business and innovation hub by investing more than SGD740 million into artificial intelligence over the next five years. As digital demands accelerate, data centres have become the foundation of today’s digital economy. To support digital growth more sustainably, data centres need to explore new ways to reduce energy consumption and implement energy efficiency solutions to cope with increased workloads and processing requirements.
“The establishment of the Co-Innovation Facility highlights our commitment to forging impactful industry partnerships that translate groundbreaking research into practical applications,” said the NUS’s Professor Lee Poh Seng. “Collaborating with Equinix enables us to leverage our expertise in energy innovation and sustainability to address critical challenges faced by data centres in tropical climates. Together, we aim to redefine benchmarks for operational efficiency and sustainability in digital infrastructure, aligning with Singapore’s ambitions for sustainable development and technological leadership. This partnership is a powerful step forward in shaping a future where cutting-edge innovation meets environmental responsibility.”
Equinix and NUS have long supported Singapore’s sustainability agenda and implemented various initiatives to support the growth of sustainable development in the country, including scholarship opportunities in nature-based climate solutions for NUS students.
In 2022, Equinix, together with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and CERT, both under NUS CDE, collaborated to explore hydrogen-based green fuel technologies for mission-critical data centre infrastructure. The study compared PEM fuel cells and fuel-flexible linear generators, highlighting their efficiency and potential as backup power solutions, particularly in tropical climates. The results were released in 2023.
