NEA brings newly constructed data centre into operation

KATHMANDU: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has put a newly constructed, state-of-the-art, international standard data centre into operation in Kathmandu.

To serve future commercial entities, NEA has initiated an international standard data centre equipped with advanced facilities. This centre, together with the load dispatch centre, is situated at Syuchatar.

The three-storey building, assembled using a 'prefabricated container', accommodates the monitoring, regulation, control, and security operation room for Kathmandu Valley's underground electricity distribution system on the ground floor. The first floor houses an office and network operation room, while the data centre is located on the second floor.

NEA's Executive Director, Kul Man Ghising, said that the data centre complies with the 'Tier-3' international standards set for data centres. According to Ghising, this model 'data centre', built by NEA under the Digital NEA programme to modernise its services, is the first one in Nepal.

Ghising asserted that all data, inclusive of servers related to NEA's information technology (IT), will be consolidated at the data centre. He also disclosed that NEA intends to establish its own 'private cloud' for data storage once the centre becomes operational.

Ghising noted that a disaster recovery centre is under construction at the New Butwal substation in Sunwal of Nawalparasi for data security. Until the completion of the recovery centre, the current data centre at NEA's Head Office will function as a recovery centre.

The newly functional data centre comprises 40 IT rooms, of which 36 are server rooms and four are network rooms, as reported by NEA. To meet the Tier-3 standards, arrangements have been made for uninterrupted power supply (N+1 Power supply), cooling system, automatic fire control, CCTV surveillance, operation, and safety monitoring. The centre has several alternative provisions for a continuous power supply.

Ghising stated that two 1-megawatt (MW) capacity generators are on standby to ensure the safe operation of the data centre during disruptions in the local and national electrical system or during power cuts. Two modular UPS of 300kVA capacity have been installed. He added that the data centre will remain operational during maintenance and equipment replacement as a Lithium-ion battery is used, considering the reliability of UPS.

Optical fibre with an alternative route has been laid to connect NEA's Head Office in Ratnapark with the data centre. The head office and data centre are interconnected through optical fibre from Teku and Balaju. Staff have been deployed to operate the data centre round-the-clock.

In addition, infrastructure and structures have been developed to monitor, regulate, and control the underground distribution system under construction, thereby automating Kathmandu Valley's power distribution system. Ghising informed that valley substations and switching stations will be integrated into this system.

It is feasible to manage, monitor, and control the electricity distribution system extending from the centre to the consumer's house consuming less than 11kV. A charging station has also been initiated on the premises of the data centre, capable of charging three electric vehicles at the same time.

A contract for the construction of the data centre was signed with the Chinese company, Yantai Dongfang Wisdom Electric Co Ltd, in July 2021, and work began in November of the same year.

According to the NEA Office, the estimated cost of the data centre, constructed with the investment of the government and NEA and concessional loans from the Asian Development Bank, is around Rs 1.4 billion.

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