Germany-headquartered inverter manufacturer SMA Solar is expanding its Large Scale and Project Solutions business to cater for the fast-growing data centre market.
The company has unveiled plans for a portfolio of data centre power infrastructure solutions designed for artificial intelligence and hyperscale applications.
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SMA’s CEO Jurgen Reinert pointed to growth in the data centre and AI markets as a key business focus for the company in its first-half results earlier this month, which showed an uptick in SMA’s sales and earnings.
In the launch of the new data centre portfolio yesterday, SMA further highlighted the “unprecedented” growth in global demand for data centre capacity to keep pace with the boom in AI, cloud computing and digitalisation.
“As operators race to bring new facilities online, access to power has become a decisive factor for project success. In many regions, lengthy grid interconnection processes and increasing grid stability requirements are slowing the deployment of new data centre capacity,” SMA said in a statement on the launch. “This development is creating significant demand for advanced electrical infrastructure and grid integration solutions.
The company said its dedicated data centre portfolio would address the “critical challenges” of this market around time-to-power, reliability and scalability, drawing on its capabilities in areas such as grid stabilisation, grid-forming, battery energy storage integration, cybersecurity, power plant controls and the management of complex electrical infrastructure.
“For years, much of the data centre conversation has focused on accessing power,” said Jay Arghestani, managing director of sales, technology and marketing for large-scale solutions at SMA America. “Data centre developers either pursue a grid connection, or collocation of new generation assets with their data centre, or increasingly, both. And regardless of their decision, they must deliver reliable operation while facing complex compliance and stability challenges. These are the challenges SMA has been solving at scale for decades.”
The portfolio includes three solution architectures, which SMA said would give data centre developers a choice of options best suited to their specific operational, grid and business requirements:
SMA GridAssist is a battery-based architecture that supports grid-connected data centres through load smoothing, power quality stabilisation and grid code compliance
SMA GridLink AC is a medium-voltage uninterruptable power supply (UPS) architecture that decouples data centre loads from the grid, addressing interconnection challenges and maintaining stable operations, SMA said.
SMA GridLink DC supports the industry’s transition toward 800V DC-powered AI infrastructure. Planned for deployment in 2027, SMA said the solution is designed to improve efficiency, scalability and power availability “from grid to compute”, while reducing technology and execution risks.
Arghestani said: “Our approach is to bring proven power conversion technology and deep grid expertise into this market, then work alongside customers to determine the right architecture for the project. Whether that is AC today, DC tomorrow or a combination over time, the underlying requirement is the same: power must be reliable, scalable and ready to perform.”
