In the U.S. Midwest, a global payments technology company is building a hybrid solar, battery storage, and diesel microgrid to power one of its most critical data centers: a facility so central to its operations that even a momentary loss of power isn't an option.
The system is expected to supply more than a third of the site's annual electricity needs and cut roughly a third of the emissions tied to its power consumption, while reducing the facility's draw on a regional grid that still relies heavily on coal.
When zero export meets zero downtime
Behind-the-meter microgrids are common. One with no grid export allowed, serving a facility that can never lose power, is a different challenge entirely. The site's PV, battery, and diesel assets all had to be coordinated in real time. Not just to keep the lights on, but to do it while running the diesel generators as little as possible and maximizing use of solar generation to support the site's sustainability goal of reducing its carbon emissions.
That combination of constraints (no export path to fall back on, a mission-critical uptime bar, and a net-zero mandate) meant the control platform had to:
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Coordinate battery dispatch with the site's broader control layer: executing real-time setpoints from the site's master controller as PV output and diesel run status shifted throughout the day
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Minimize diesel runtime: prioritizing PV and battery dispatch wherever site conditions allowed
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Operate with zero tolerance for control loss, since a dropped controller could result in the facility going offline
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Support full network redundancy, with dual copper and dual fiber loops linking the control room to each battery panel
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Retain long-term performance data to support battery warranty obligations over the asset's life
Coordinating full network redundancy across every stakeholder
Power Factors' delivery team worked alongside the site's network administrator, the facility owner, and the project's EPC/developer team to design a control network with no single point of failure, a requirement that touched every stakeholder's scope, not just Power Factors' own. Getting a facility with zero tolerance for downtime online meant every switch, loop, and control path had to be redundant by design, and every party involved had to build to that same standard.
Delivery combines Power Factors' North American project team with European controls engineering, reflecting how the company delivers complex projects as one coordinated global team rather than siloed by region. That standard held across the full network:
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Designed and configured a fully redundant control network, with dual copper and dual fiber paths so no single link failure could interrupt monitoring or control
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Aligned with the facility's network administrator on integration requirements to ensure the control system meshed cleanly with existing site infrastructure
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Worked in lockstep with the EPC/developer team so network and electrical infrastructure were commissioned together, not as separate workstreams
Answering the reliability demands of always-on infrastructure
This project is still underway, with construction and commissioning ongoing. It reflects Power Factors' ability to deliver dispatch and monitoring infrastructure built to the reliability standards of the world's most uptime-sensitive facilities, not just utility-scale power plants, but the mission-critical infrastructure behind global digital commerce.
Need dispatch control that can't afford to fail? See how Power Factors delivers energy control for mission-critical data centers.
