With the booming development of the digital economy, the construction of data centers is also accelerating. In order to achieve green and sustainable development of data centers, adopting an integrated energy system that is clean, efficient, environmentally friendly, and energy-saving is an effective solution. This energy system can replace traditional grid power supply. However, the design and operation optimization of integrated energy systems are usually divided into two stages, which cannot achieve overall optimization planning. Based on the energy consumption characteristics of the data center, an integrated energy system is designed. This system combines natural gas, solar energy, and wind energy, and integrates electric refrigeration, absorption refrigeration units, and other equipment. A two-layer planning model is established to optimize equipment capacity and scheduling strategy. The annual total cost and carbon emission are taken as the optimization objectives. Finally, a data center in the north is studied as an example. The results show that compared to traditional grid dependent power supply methods, integrated energy systems can reduce the total annual cost of data centers by about 37.3% and reduce annual carbon emissions by about 58.1%. Meanwhile, the integrated energy system can effectively cope with the impact of seasonal factors on wind and solar energy resources. During summer operation, the daily operating cost is reduced by about 79.2%, and the daily carbon emissions are reduced by about 71.4%; During winter operation, the daily operating cost is reduced by about 73.8%, and the daily carbon emissions are reduced by about 59.3%. • Design data center integrated energy system with gas, solar and wind power. • Establish model to optimize equipment capacity and operation scheduling. • Take annual cost and carbon emission as dual optimization objectives. • Significant cost and emission reduction in operation.
Liu et al. (2026) studied this question.