LCL Wallonia One will expand its solar panel park to generate more energy, store it to use when necessary and redistribute the overproduction to the electricity network. This way, LCL wishes to reposition itself as a player in the energy mix and not just as a consumer. With the environmental challenges and the rising energy prices, data centers must find innovative solutions to produce, use and transform the energy they generate.
Created in 2021, the solar panel park in Gembloux currently counts 2,000 panels producing around 1 MW of electricity. This production is mainly used on the site and any excess of production is sold to the energy supplier in order to be transported to other consumers.
In order to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, LCL is always looking for innovative solutions to generate its own green energy. That’s the reason why they have decided to add more panels to their park in Gembloux by the summer of 2023. 1,300 panels will be added to the 2,000 existing ones and will produce an extra 600 KW of electricity.
LCL Wallonia One in Gembloux currently makes maximum use of the energy produced locally. Eventually, the excess of energy produced on the site, following the expansion of the solar panel park, will be partially stored to be used when the panels are not generating any electricity.
By generating more energy than it needs, storing and injecting the surplus of energy produced by the solar panels onto the network, LCL Wallonia One wishes to position itself as an actor-producer of energy on the network rather than just being a consumer. Local storage solutions will enable LCL to participate in the stability of the electricity network by supplying energy to distributors.
LCL is constantly looking for new solutions, to reuse, for example, the heat produced by the servers in the computer rooms.
The creation of a heat network to distribute the heat production of the data center involves the interconnection of industries requiring a constant need for heat.
Storing the electricity produced is also a challenge given the scarcity of raw materials needed to produce batteries. Nevertheless, an opportunity seems to be emerging with solutions for generating green electricity from hydrogen and fuel batteries. Hydrogen has long been known as an environmentally friendly energy.
With the general increase of other energies prices, certain technologies whose performance is more and more efficient can now be reconsidered and enter into the balance.
The efforts made by LCL to position itself as a leader in Belgium in terms of sustainability are all benefits for its customers, who by choosing to use the solutions offered by LCL, can prove their neutral carbon footprint without having to bear the heavy costs of the necessary investments.
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