OREANDA-NEWS. October 01, 2013. CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power) organised its first Data Centre Symposium as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to promote energy efficiency in the business sector.

The symposium was attended by government officials and more than 200 industry professionals, including data centre operators and end users. The symposium highlighted best practices in energy management and brought together experts from across the sector to discuss the challenges
of operating data centres in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner.

Mr Paul Poon, Managing Director Designate of CLP Power, told the symposium audience that making data centres greener would not only help the city’s environment but would also reduce operating costs for the industry.

“Hong Kong’s success as a city depends upon our ability to continue to prosper and to stay ahead of the curve,” he said. “Our role is to provide a reliable power supply that matches the city’s needs and its ambition for continuing growth while having as little impact upon the environment as possible.

“CLP Power shares the government’s goal of ensuring Hong Kong remains the Asia Pacific region hub for data centres. We know how important a stable power supply is to the data centre industry which is a vital cog in our business infrastructure, and we know that energy costs are a constant concern.”

Apart from helping data centre industry to develop in an environmental and economical way, Mr Poon said CLP Power had also taken a green approach to meeting the city’s growing electricity consumption. “For more than a decade now, we have used the latest technological advances to ensure we improve our generation capacity and network infrastructure without building any new electricity generating facilities,” he said. “We have built a clean, diversified and effective fuel CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd 2 portfolio that meets Hong Kong’s electricity demand in an environmental friendly way and at a reasonable cost to our customers.

“We are confident CLP Power is strongly positioned to address the needs of any future fuel mix decision, following the forthcoming public consultation, provided we are given sufficient lead time to put the necessary infrastructure in place.”

To help businesses improve their energy management, CLP Power shared details of the environmental approach it has taken in operating its own data centre, as well as addressing concerns from operators. A pioneering energy benchmarking service dedicated to Hong Kong’s data centre industry has been launched to allow operators to better understand their own energy consumption and to enhance their own efficiency compared to their industry peers, the symposium was told.

CLP Power has also taken the initiative to support the rapid development of Hong Kong data centres in a green and economical way. It has set up a dedicated engineering team to provide customised, fast-track power supply schemes, and has established an online portal for operators to get tips on power management and green practices.

As well as providing a platform for CLP Power to interact with business customers, the symposium also gave an opportunity for industry experts and operators including Forrester Research, Global Switch and NTT Com Asia Limited to exchange views on best practices in operating green data centres.