• About Us
  • Partnership Opportunities
  • Privacy Policy

Data Center Frontier

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing.

  • Cloud
    • Hyperscale
  • Colo
    • Site Selection
    • Interconnection
  • Energy
    • Sustainability
  • Cooling
  • Technology
    • Internet of Things
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Edge Computing
    • Virtual Reality
    • Autonomous Cars
    • 5G Wireless
    • Satellites
  • Design
    • Servers
    • Storage
    • Network
  • Voices
  • Podcast
  • White Papers
  • Resources
    • COVID-19
    • Events
    • Newsletter
    • Companies
    • Data Center 101
  • Jobs
You are here: Home / Voices of the Industry / Energy Procurement: A Painful Process Made Easy

Energy Procurement: A Painful Process Made Easy

By Voices of the Industry - October 26, 2017

Energy Procurement: A Painful Process Made Easy

Solar panels at a 14 megawatt solar array supporting a data center in New Jersey. (Photo: Rich Miller)

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

In this edition of Voices of the Industry, Brian Frazier, Director of Energy Services for Stream Data Centers, outlines the benefits of energy procurement services. 

energy procurement

Brian Frazier, Director of Energy Services for Stream Data Centers

It’s typical for a company to view energy procurement as simply another cost.  Making the time to understand all of the options and what a company is buying is hard because of the complexity involved with the energy market. Companies often struggle with committing the resources needed to make the best decision, leaving them with an energy service that is the easiest, but not best. It’s a painful process, but it doesn’t have to be.

Difficulties Exist with Energy Procurement

Energy procurement is complex and can be hard to understand. Companies struggling to identify current and future energy usage often sign up for excess unneeded services. With the industry’s volatility and constant change, tracking supply and demand, regulation changes, and new technology is challenging and time consuming for most companies as well.     Because of this, choosing the easiest energy service is often the path forward, instead of choosing the best.

‘Green Power. There’s a lot of interest in ‘green energy’ today, but many companies don’t understand the different types of renewable energy products and their unique attributes. The sources of green energy (solar, wind, small hydroelectric, and geothermal) vary from state to state in terms of availability of resources, environmental impact, and cost effectiveness. If you don’t know what the market factors are, you can purchase green energy products without understanding its potential costs.

The Benefits of an Energy Procurement Service

An effective way to overcome hurdles associated with finding the best choice is through the use of an energy procurement service. For many companies, investing the time and effort to create an in-house understanding of energy procurement isn’t practical. Similar to outsourcing data center services to third-party operators, companies can utilize a third-party energy procurement service for their benefit. Providers of these services have in-depth knowledge of the industry and can work on your behalf to craft a solution ideal for your company. Additional benefits of an energy procurement service include:

  • Creating an energy purchasing plan
  • Market intelligence
  • Risk mitigation
  • Negotiating power
  • Outsourcing a burdensome task

What to Look for in an Energy Procurement Service

Among other things, your energy procurement service should have experienced procurement specialists who have previously worked for energy retailers and generators. These specialists should have an intricate knowledge of factors that affect the energy market, and should have experience negotiating contracts with energy retailers. In particular, these specialists should have experience working for both regulated and deregulated energy markets, and should understand the unique rules present in each type of market. They should also understand “green” or renewable energy, and how to negotiate cost-effective contracts for it.

Your energy procurement service should provide an unbiased recommendation, and bring a large list of resources to bear, including a robust customer set, a list of major clients and energy providers with whom they’ve negotiated contracts. They should have good relationships with a wide range of local and national energy retailers, as well as contacts within government agencies (i.e. state public utilities commissions).

Interactions with your energy procurement specialist should not be limited to emails every few years to let you know when your services contract is up for renewal. Instead, they should call you regularly to discuss your upcoming power needs, and let you know about new energy opportunities and risks. If you have a contract or billing issue, you should be able to pick up the phone, call your energy procurement specialist, and have them work with your energy provider to fix the problem.

When you use an energy procurement service, a procurement specialist works with your company to help you understand your options, and make better, more informed buying decisions. The result can be a long list of advantages, including optimal long-term purchasing strategies, resourceful uses of Green Power, leveraging market intelligence, risk mitigation, negotiating power… and, of course, outsourcing an otherwise burdensome task to a worth professional.

Utilizing an equipped energy procurement service provides companies with an informed purchasing plan that will produce a new energy service tailored to fit their needs.

Brian Frazier is Director of Energy Services for Stream Data Centers. 

 

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

Tagged With: Energy Consumption, Energy Procurement, Stream Data Centers

Newsletters

Stay informed: Get our weekly updates!

Are you a new reader? Follow Data Center Frontier on Twitter or Facebook.
voices@richmiller.biz'

About Voices of the Industry

Our Voice of the Industry feature showcases guest articles on thought leadership from sponsors of Data Center Frontier. For more information, see our Voices of the Industry description and guidelines..

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Voices of the Industry

Overcoming Supply Chain Roadblocks: How to Avoid Disruptions in Your Data Center

Overcoming Supply Chain Roadblocks: How to Avoid Disruptions in Your Data Center The data center industry continues to experience significant global supply chain problems. Brett Williams of Service Express, explores the importance of leveraging the secondary hardware market to overcome supply chain roadblocks.

White Papers

data center provider

3 Questions to Ask Your Data Center about Environmental & Social Responsibility

In a world rightly concerned about climate change, growing energy requirements can be a liability. But with a few actionable steps, data center decision makers can use their energy purchasing power to be part of the solution.  The new report explores these three questions to ask your data center provider about their energy consumption.

Get this PDF emailed to you.

We always respect your privacy and we never sell or rent our list to third parties. By downloading this White Paper you are agreeing to our terms of service. You can opt out at any time.

DCF Spotlight

Data center modules on display at the recent Edge Congress conference in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Rich Miller)

Edge Computing is Poised to Remake the Data Center Landscape

Data center leaders are investing in edge computing and edge solutions and actively looking at new ways to deploy edge capacity to support evolving business and user requirements.

An aerial view of major facilities in Data Center Alley in Ashburn, Virginia. (Image: Loudoun County)

Northern Virginia Data Center Market: The Focal Point for Cloud Growth

The Northern Virginia data center market is seeing a surge in supply and an even bigger surge in demand. Data Center Frontier explores trends, stats and future expectations for the No. 1 data center market in the country.

See More Spotlight Features

Newsletters

Get the Latest News from Data Center Frontier

Job Listings

RSS Job Openings | Pkaza Critical Facilities Recruiting

  • Critical Power Energy Manager - Data Center Development - Ashburn, VA
  • Site Development Manager - Data Center - Ashburn, VA
  • Data Center Facility Operations Director - Chicago, IL
  • Electrical Engineer - Senior - Dallas, TX
  • Mechanical Commissioning Engineer - Calgary, Alberta

See More Jobs

Data Center 101

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Open Spectrum, brings our readers a series that provides an introductory guidebook to the ins and outs of the data center and colocation industry. Think power systems, cooling, solutions, data center contracts and more. The Data Center 101 Special Report series is directed to those new to the industry, or those of our readers who need to brush up on the basics.

  • Data Center Power
  • Data Center Cooling
  • Strategies for Data Center Location
  • Data Center Pricing Negotiating
  • Cloud Computing

See More Data center 101 Topics

About Us

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing. We write about what’s next for the Internet, and the innovations that will take us there. We tell the story of the digital economy through the data center facilities that power cloud computing and the people who build them. Read more ...
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Our Founder

Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution. Meet the DCF team.

TOPICS

  • 5G Wireless
  • Cloud
  • Colo
  • Connected Cars
  • Cooling
  • Cornerstone
  • Coronavirus
  • Design
  • Edge Computing
  • Energy
  • Executive Roundtable
  • Featured
  • Finance
  • Hyperscale
  • Interconnection
  • Internet of Things
  • Machine Learning
  • Network
  • Podcast
  • Servers
  • Site Selection
  • Social Business
  • Special Reports
  • Storage
  • Sustainability
  • Videos
  • Virtual Reality
  • Voices of the Industry
  • Webinar
  • White Paper

Copyright Data Center Frontier LLC © 2022