This report proposes a design of a 1-megawatt data center that utilizes hydrogen as the primary fuel for power and cooling. Currently, data centers rely on utility grids for their operation. The growing global efforts to achieve sustainability introduce intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, into the power grid, which goes against the reliability principles of the data center industry. As computer technologies further permeate our everyday lives, their energy consumption and environmental impact become greater.

The feasibility study aims to investigate the potential of using hydrogen as a primary energy carrier in data center applications in terms of reliability, efficiency, electrical and hydrogen topology, infrastructure layout, and control strategies. A comprehensive review of commercially available and emerging hydrogen technologies related to storage, transport, electricity generation, and cooling was conducted. Based on this literature review, two designs for a hydrogen data center were developed. A modular approach to the design was proposed, where each module is self-contained and responsible for providing the servers with 1 megawatt of electrical power and cooling.

The first low-temperature design utilizes a hydrogen pipeline with pressure swing adsorption purification supplying hydrogen gas to a cogeneration system. This system combines a low-temperature Proton-Exchange Membrane fuel cell and a direct-fired hydrogen single-stage absorption refrigeration cycle into a single unit to deliver stable power and cooling to the servers. The findings indicate that the overall energy efficiency of this design configuration is high, and the technologies are mature enough to be used today. However, the study identified various technological limitations of purification systems that must be addressed with further research and development.
The second high-temperature design eliminates the need for a purification system, relying instead on high-temperature Proton-Exchange Membrane fuel cells coupled to a double-effect absorption refrigeration system. Unfortunately, this design is not feasible in 2024 because the high-temperature fuel cells are in the early stages of development.

A cost analysis was conducted for both designs in the current (2024) and projected (2030) scenarios. The results indicate that at the current level of hydrogen technology development and manufacturing, the operational costs of the low-temperature configuration were comparable to the traditional data centers. However, if hydrogen technology continues to develop according to the projected trends, the proposed designs can achieve up to 50% cost savings compared to the grid-powered data centers. This research showcases the potential for hydrogen as an energy carrier in data center applications, encouraging further research and exploration of hydrogen technologies.