Getting the IT industry ready for a shale gas revolution

The UK Government has announced proposals to cut the tax on some of the income generated from producing shale gas. The British Geological Survey estimates that there may be as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the North of England alone. Fracking is not without its opposition – many of whom claim that fracking is likely to cause earth tremors, that carcinogenic chemicals are used in the process, that too much water is used in the process, or that a large proportion of the ‘toxic’ fracturing fluid is left in the ground which ultimately contaminates ground water supplies. Fracking also has its supporters – it has revolutionised the energy industry in the US, there is thought to be enough shale gas in the UK to meet our demands for many years to come, gas power generation is significantly more environmentally efficient than coal and shale gas is relatively easy to harvest.

The problem for the IT industry is that once fracking begins the sheer volume of data generated will be immense. This is already a problem faced by the energy generation industry. Currently, energy producers report availability every half an hour, 24 hours a day, every day, into the National Grid who is responsible for ‘balancing’ supply and demand. This, in itself, involves the generation, processing and storing of vast amount of data by the energy generation industry. If the regulator, Ofgem, needs to investigate a particular peak or drop in supply, it is unacceptable for the energy generation company to say, ‘we no longer have that data anymore’. Energy companies have an obligation to hold that data.

Health and Safety are already major challenges for the energy generation industry, with probably the tightest health and safety regulations anywhere. When fracking begins the requirements for companies to keep records will be phenomenal. This is partly because the process is so controversial and every move or action will inevitably be challenged, but also partly because of the health and safety concerns around fracking.

It is said that over 600 chemicals are used in a fracking well. Each one will need to be recorded for its use, quantities, timings, etc. etc. Fracking companies will be required to keep records of the water both quantities and quality, of the sand that is used in the process, and many, many other records. The quantity of records kept is already extremely high. If you are an energy producer today, maybe generating power through wind turbines or extracting oil from wells, adding fracking to your portfolio will increase the amount of records you will need to make, process and store.

The problem is the size of the data means that energy companies are going to need significant server farms and electronic storage, which is adding another burden to the already challenged industry. Will energy companies have to become data centre operators? Data centres are the environments in which the server farms and electronic storage need to be kept to maintain the equipment and operate it.

Data centre operators are specialists in their field. They know what the optimum operating conditions are for the server and storage equipment, they understand the power, cooling and environmental requirements and, the better ones understand the security requirements that must be met to protect its customers and their data. Data centres are also operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so they are a good match for the energy sector’s half hourly reporting requirements. Most good data centres also have uninterruptable power supplies and backup generators to ensure that, in the event of an interruption to the grid power source, they remain available at all times. Data centres also have big communication links that mean they are connected and able to handle very large amounts of data.

Data centres and energy companies are likely to make good bedfellows. Data centres offer energy companies the benefit of not having to worry about the IT equipment, not having to become data centre operators themselves and not having to worry about whether the equipment will be available whenever it is needed for the recording and reporting that they have to do.

Finally, if it proves true that fracking causes earth tremors then it is likely that you would want to house your data centre hundreds of miles from any shale gas extraction.