Hitachi Vantara and Duraflow cut data center cooling power with PCM

Cooling that stores heat instead of chasing it

AI processors turn electricity into heat, and that heat has to be removed. According to the press release, cooling can account for up to 40% of a data center's total energy consumption. In regions where grid congestion or limited access to extra power slows expansion, spending less on cooling means more electricity can go to servers.

Duraflow's technology uses phase change material, which absorbs heat when cooling demand peaks and releases it later in a controlled way. This helps absorb temperature swings and limits the use of electrically driven cooling equipment. The system needs no cooling water, which also reduces dependence on water supplies. Depending on the application, the companies say the approach can cut electricity use for cooling by up to 90%.

Hitachi Vantara says its Dutch data center is home to one of the world's largest operational PCM installations.

The numbers from the Dutch installation

The installation consists of two PCM units of 120 kW each, for a combined 240 kW of cooling capacity. According to operational measurements cited in the release, the two units together draw only 5-8 kW of electricity, depending on operating conditions.

For comparison, the companies estimate that a conventional DX cooling system with the same cooling capacity would need 60-80 kW of compressor power. That difference in electricity can stay available for IT infrastructure instead of going to cooling.

Simon Ninan, Senior Vice President of Business Strategy at Hitachi Vantara, said the project began with a practical question: "hoe vergroten we onze rekenkracht als extra elektriciteit niet vanzelfsprekend beschikbaar is?" (how do we increase our computing power when extra electricity is not readily available). He said the company saw it could devote more of its existing power capacity to computing by sharply reducing electricity used for cooling.

Efficiency beyond the cooling plant

Hitachi Vantara says its efficiency work is not limited to cooling. Its Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP One) Block includes a 4:1 Data Reduction Guarantee and Dynamic Carbon Reduction. According to the company, the technology can lower energy use by switching CPUs to an energy-saving mode when activity is low. With permanent compression, the system can also move from inline data reduction to post-process reduction. Hitachi Vantara says this can shrink the CO₂ footprint by up to 40%.

The company aims to be climate neutral for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by fiscal year 2030 at the latest. Courtney Hadden, Sustainability Director at Hitachi Digital, said addressing AI's energy demand requires collaboration across the organization and with innovative partners, and that the answer cannot simply be to consume ever more power.

What it means for data center operators

Duraflow developed its PCM technology in the Netherlands. CEO Simon Loerakker said that developing technology is one thing, but showing it works at this scale in an operational, business-critical environment is another. He said the collaboration with Hitachi Vantara lets the companies demonstrate that sustainable innovation and AI infrastructure growth can go hand in hand.

For operators facing power limits, the pilot points to a way of fitting more computing into an existing grid connection by lowering the share of electricity spent on cooling. The figures come from the companies themselves and from a single installation, and actual savings will depend on the application and operating conditions, as the release itself notes.