Scala Data Centers leads innovation with successful green diesel Proof of Concept

This is an automated translation of the original release published in Portuguese.

By Scala Data Centers

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL, May 2024 – Scala Data Centers, a Latin American sustainable datacenter platform leading in the hyperscale market, is celebrating the success of its Proof of Concept (POC) that confirmed the technical feasibility of using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), known as green diesel, in its Caterpillar brand backup generators. This innovation, a pioneer in Latin America, reinforces Scala's leadership in the adoption of responsible and sustainable practices.

Extracted from renewable sources, such as vegetable oils, green diesel goes through a hydrotreatment process, transforming into a high-quality fuel with reduced environmental impact. Replacing fossil diesel with HVO can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 85%, consolidating Scala's commitment to sustainability.

During the POC – carried out by Scala's Center of Engineering Excellence (CoE) in collaboration with the operations team and Sotreq, a Caterpillar dealer in Brazil – HVO demonstrated excellent performance in backup generators, maintaining the critical resilience of datacenters without requiring changes to existing equipment.

Agostinho Villela, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Scala, highlights: "The transition to HVO perfectly aligns with our strategy of ensuring continuous and sustainable operations, without compromising the quality and reliability that our customers expect from us."

"We closely followed the Scala test on Caterpillar equipment, in a pioneering initiative in Latin America", adds Mauricio Garcia, Director of the Energy Unit at Sotreq. "The use of HVO in generators opens up a universe of possibilities, in addition to ensuring lower maintenance costs, preserving equipment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Although we have made significant advances in technical and environmental terms, Scala Data Centers recognizes the current economic challenges related to the implementation of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in our operations in the Latin American context, as it is three times more expensive than diesel. We closely monitor market trends, hoping to identify opportunities that could make the use of HVO on a larger scale economically viable. By leading this venture, Scala positions itself as an industry pioneer and encourages broader market participation in the direction we advocate. We anticipate that moves like ours will raise awareness within the supply chain about the potential for substantial demand for HVO, encouraging interested parties to explore more attractive commercial terms that enable its widespread adoption. Our goal is to encourage industry to imagine and realize the future benefits of sustainable energy solutions.

Christiana Weisshuhn, Senior Director of Communications and ESG Program, adds: "Green diesel is more than an alternative to fossil diesel, it is a fundamental piece in our vision for a sustainable future. We look forward to beginning the transition to HVO as it becomes economically viable, continuing to lead by example in sustainable datacenter management."

"This proof of concept reinforces our unwavering commitment to providing excellent services to our customers, in an aspect that is essential to them," said Eugênio Cruz, VP of Datacenter Operations. "In addition to this reduction in emissions, green diesel offers additional advantages, as it will no longer be necessary to clean the tanks and rigorous quality controls that are carried out when using current biodiesel, thus ensuring high availability of our sites."

When HVO enters commercial scale use, the plan is to begin replacing the fuel in its tanks. This reinforces Scala's leading position in the industry, leading the transition to cleaner energy solutions and setting new sustainability standards in the datacenter sector.

This notable advancement by Scala Data Centers not only sets new sustainability benchmarks in the datacenter industry, but also signals a paradigm shift in global industrial practices. Scala establishes itself as a beacon of innovation by demonstrating that cutting-edge technology and environmental responsibility can coexist harmoniously. With an eye toward the future, the company invites partners, customers and the global community to join this transformative journey, marking a historic moment for Scala and the entire technology industry.

About Scala Data Centers

Scala Data Centers is the leading sustainable data center platform in the Hyperscale market in Latin America. Based in Brazil and founded by DigitalBridge, it was developed to meet and exceed the growing demand for digital access. Scala has a highly qualified team of more than 1,000 professionals and applies a flexible and innovative approach to deliver exceptional colocation services to Hyperscale customers, cloud software providers and large enterprises. We customize state-of-the-art solutions for each client in the construction of state-of-the-art datacenters, with high availability, high energy efficiency and very high density, capable of supporting AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) workloads. All of this is combined with the best sustainability practices guided by the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) program.