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5: The Magic of “Incentive”—The Role of Electric Utilities 75

For virtualization, incentives are based on the amount of energy-savings
achieved through data center consolidation. PG&E customers apply for the
rebate before pursuing a virtualization project. PG&E currently offers a flat
rebate of $158 per server that is consolidated through the project. In addition
to the rebate, the changes customers make are estimated to save them $300
to $600 in annual energy costs for each server that is virtualized. Those sav-
ings can almost double when reduced data center cooling costs are also taken
into account. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Austin Energy
have similar programs.
Here’s a 2008 snapshot of other utilities currently offering or planning
incentives:

■ Avista Utilities, the utility serving Spokane, Washington, offers rebates
of up to $5,000 per rack for customers implementing a chip-level liquid
cooling solution from SprayCool.
■ Xcel Energy, a utility with operations in eight states (Colorado,
Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas,
and Wisconsin), offers a custom project program. Business customers can ptg
also receive up to $15,000 toward an efficiency study to identify savings.
■ Austin Energy in Austin, Texas, has data center programs providing
rebates on various efficiency measures, including server virtualization and
efficient cooling practices.
■ As previously mentioned in Chapter 4, in Con Edison territory, data
centers that can permanently reduce electric demand by at least 20 kilo-
watts can get help paying for their capital improvement costs with an
incentive of $600 per kilowatt from New York State Energy Research
and Development Authority (NYSERDA). There is a cap of 65 percent
of costs or $1.25 million per facility. NYSERDA is also examining
potential incentives for data center procurement and energy management
but has not yet finalized any details.

Tips on qualifying for incentives and maximizing the advantage you get
from them follow:

1. Find available programs: The first step is to contact your electrical
utility or state energy-efficiency program to determine what energy-
efficiency incentives might be available for IT consolidation or data
center energy-efficiency improvement projects. You can also check