Schneider Electric Wins ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability and Efficiency’ at The DCS Awards 2021

Schneider Electric has won the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability and Efficiency’, category at the DCS Awards. The award recognises Schneider Electric’s leadership within the data centre sustainability field, and its technologies, which help customers meet demands for resilience, efficiency, and sustainable operations.

Schneider Electric and partner, Elite Partners Advanced Power Technology, also secured a second, special project award for the ‘Sustainability in the Data Centre’ Project of the Year’ category during the event. Together the companies delivered a modernisation project for Newcastle City Council, using energy efficient technologies to reduce its carbon footprint as part of a wider digital transformation initiative. 

Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability and Efficiency

Sustainability and efficiency have long been at the core of Schneider Electric’s purpose. The company has a demonstrable track record in helping customers to reduce the environmental impact of their mission-critical infrastructure with sustainable, Green Premium™ technologies, innovative design and build strategies, and through its energy and sustainability services (ESS) division.

Its industry-leading portfolio of hardware and software solutions, which include its EcoStruxure IT data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) platform, helps operators to gain greater visibility into the critical IT environment, and take steps to reduce both energy use and carbon emissions. Furthermore, its sustainable backup power solutions, including its Galaxy range of ultra-energy efficient Lithium-ion uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), its SF6-free switchgear, and its microgrid technologies, enable operators to meet demands for sustainability and resilience, offering energy storage capabilities and the ability to integrate on-site renewables, such as wind and solar, with the grid.

In recent years the company has also devised strategies to help operators think outside of the confines of traditional data centre designs and reduce scope-3 emissions within the supply chain. In 2020 Schneider Electric announced it was accelerating its corporate sustainability commitments, promising to help customers save/ avoid 800M tonnes of carbon emissions by 2025. To-date it has helped them reduce CO2 emissions by 319 million tonnes.

“With COP26 taking place this week, there has never been a more important time for our industry to commit to Net Zero,” said Marc Garner, Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK&I. “By combining innovative designs with sustainable technologies and integrating with both renewables and the grid, our sector can play a crucial role in the quest to address the climate emergency. We’re delighted to receive this award for our contribution to sustainability and efficiency.”

Sustainability in the Data Centre Project of the Year

In collaboration with its Elite Partner Advanced Power Technology (APT), Schneider Electric also received a second, special award for ‘Sustainability in the Data Centre’ Project of the Year’. Together the companies delivered a data centre digital transformation project for Newcastle City Council, which would support its new e-government strategy in delivering services to the 300,000 citizens and businesses within its constituency.

The project included the modernisation of existing data centre capacity, upgrades to its physical infrastructure including new UPS, racks, enclosures and containment, and the deployment of EcoStruxure IT management software to increase visibility into the operating environment. Together the new system improves the Councils ability to ensure service continuity, reduces energy consumption and enables its power and cooling systems to be operated with optimum energy efficiency.