Data center cooling using Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES)

Data centers have become critical infrastructure in the rapidly-expanding digital economy, supporting cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and high-performance computing. They are rapidly becoming major electricity consumers, and nearly 40% of their demand comes from cooling alone, underscoring the need for more energy-efficient and sustainable cooling methods. This thesis develops a comparative techno- economic framework to evaluate two advanced cooling strategies. Magnetic bearing chillers (MBC) and MBC + aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) against a conventional water-cooled centrifugal chiller plant with CRAH units for mid-sized data centers. Hourly cooling-energy and cost simulations were performed for the City of Phoenix, Arizona, and the City of Fairbanks, Alaska, under identical IT loads and setpoints. Performance was assessed through annual cooling energy, energy cost, peak electrical demand, cooling-only PUE′ (average and 95th percentile), and economic indicators including incremental NPV, IRR, and SPB, all evaluated relative to the baseline centrifugal-chiller + CRAH configuration. Results show that MBC reduce the energy needed for cooling annually, by up to 28% with peak electrical demand of approximately 34kW (7.2%) in the City of Phoenix, improving the average PUE′ from 1.20 - 1.14 and achieving a 2.2-year payback with an IRR of 47.9 %. The integration of ATES further lowers lifecycle costs, yielding an NPV of $1.5M and a 5.2-year payback, while maintaining similar energy performance. In the City of Fairbanks, absolute savings are smaller due to extensive free-cooling hours; however, the hybrid MBC + ATES configuration still delivers a 17% reduction in the cost of energy and long-term financial viability (IRR 10.2 %). For both cities, the cost of electricity comprises the majority of operating expenses (>95%), making tariff structure and climate the primary determinants of financial viability. Overall, based on the literature review, this study concludes that the MBC and ATES-integrated cooling approaches not only improve economic performance but also reduce Scope 2 emissions by lowering mechanical cooling demand, aligning with trends reported in prior work.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Industrial Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Malpure, Apurva

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sreenivas, Ramavarapu
• Stumpf, Andrew

• ATES
• Data Center
• Techno economic model
• Financial model
• Cooling strategy

Statement dc:rights

• © 2025 Apurva Malpure

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132585

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132585