Energy consumption in data centers is growing rapidly in recent years. To realize the economic and flexible operation of data centers, this paper proposes a spatio-temporal coordinated operation strategy of data centers considering virtual storage system (VSS) via two-stage distributionally robust optimization. First, based on the dynamic thermal network of buildings and differentiated demands of cloud users in data centers, a comprehensive operation model with VSS is proposed. Then, considering uncertainties of general load demands from data centers and outdoor temperatures, a fuzzy set is deduced, using an imprecise Dirichlet model derived from historical data. This ensures confidence level satisfaction for uncertain sets of general load and outdoor temperatures. In addition, the spatio-temporal coordinated operation strategy of data centers considering virtual storage system via two-stage distributionally robust optimization that flexibly adjusts conservativeness through uncertainty regulation parameters. Finally, a Dynamic Accuracy Column and Constraint Generation (DA-C&CG) algorithm is developed for solving the proposed strategy. The results indicate that the proposed strategy can effectively enhance operational economics, computing efficiency and resilience by leveraging flexibility in cooling and cloud user loads within suitable server temperatures. Meanwhile, the DA-C&CG algorithm exhibits excellent solution performance.
Qin et al. (Thu,) studied this question.