Development of documentation to support the discharge of improvement conditions in the environmental permit for a new data centre.
CLIENT:
Global Technical Realty Services Limited (GTR)
LOCATION:
Slough
SERVICES:
- Permitting
- Air Quality
- Emissions Monitoring
OUR APPROACH & DELIVERABLES
GTR had recently been permitted by the Environment Agency to operate a Section 1.1 Part A(1) installation for the burning of any fuel in an appliance with a rated thermal input of 50 or more megawatts (MW) at a new data centre in Slough. The combustion plant at the GB One Data Centre comprises a number of diesel standby generators which are used to provide standby electricity generation to power the data centre in the event of an external grid power failure. However, they are also subject to infrequent testing to demonstrate they can provide full load duty if required during a grid power failure.
This project supported the environmental permit’s improvement programme requirements. Two improvement conditions required the development of an Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP), which outlines the response measures that would need to be taken in the event of a grid failure, and the requirement for a Monitoring Plan that specifies provisions for emissions monitoring on the generators.
Logika completed the AQMP, in line with the Environment Agency’s “Data Centre FAQ Headline Approach” guidance document, which included the production of a written action plan to manage the prolonged emergency running of the site’s generator plant in the rare event of a loss of offsite power (LOOP) incident. The plan also included the identification of sensitive receptors, assessment and impact evaluation against modelled risk conditions.
Logika also developed the monitoring plan which specified how the operator will manage the emissions testing on the generators to ensure compliance with the permit, which reflected relevant Environment Agency guidance and EN standards.
The AQMP included recently developed approaches for modelling emissions from data centres (“Methodology for assessing the in-combination air quality impact of clusters)” that Logika produced for Defra. This guidance affects how the Environment Agency regulates clusters of data centres for their air quality impacts.
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