GIS Power

Critical power

For facilities that cannot stop

Track record: 1983Power for mission-critical facilities since that year
Facilities: 13data centers and critical facilities designed and built
Floor area: 180,000+ m²of mission-critical facilities
Countries: 3Mexico, the United States and Brazil

Critical power

Power that does not go down

A data center, an airport or a telephone exchange cannot lose power for a second. The group designs, builds and operates the infrastructure that prevents it: redundancy, UPS, battery storage (BESS), on-site generation and operations with contractual availability. It has done so since 1983, in Mexico, the United States and Brazil.

Discuss your facility See the track record

What critical power means

Power as part of business availability

In a mission-critical facility the question is not what a kWh costs, but what happens when a component fails. The answer is designed in advance: every piece of equipment that can fail has another one ready to take the load, and the transfer happens without the load noticing.

GIS Power applies that approach to the site’s entire power system. Primary power can be solar with BESS, the grid or on-site generation; the continuity layer sits on top of it: UPS, backup generation, redundant distribution and an operations team accountable for availability.

This is the line of work the group was born with. ESI started in Tampa in 1983 building data centers for telecom and technology companies, and that experience is the basis of Green Data Center by GIS Power.

When it is not a fit

When operations can tolerate short outages and the site’s grid is stable: a basic backup plant may be enough.
When all you need is to replace a UPS or a battery bank: that is maintenance work, not a power project.
When no one will sign a long-term operations contract: availability is sustained by operating, not just by building.

What it includes

Each layer has its job

From primary power to 24/7 operations

Redundancy

N+1 and N+N architectures, dual utility feeds and redundant distribution, to the availability level the facility requires.

UPS

Uninterruptible power systems sized for the critical load and for the time it takes backup generation to come online.

Battery storage (BESS)

Batteries that carry the load through transients, shift solar energy into the night and cut engine hours.

On-site generation

Solar with BESS as primary power and, where there is thermal demand, cogeneration with absorption-chilled water.

Backup generation

Paralleled plants with seamless transfer. Emergency-only generation needs no permit (Electricity Sector Law, art. 19).

O&M with contractual availability

Operations and maintenance with availability indicators written into the contract, for the life of the project.

How continuity is designed

Examples from the group’s track record

Every mission-critical project the group has delivered was designed for a specific availability level. Some examples from PMI’s project history:

GTE Data Services, Mexico City (1998): N+1 design with two 2 MW diesel generators and two 750 kVA UPS units. Ten months from design to completion.
DIGEX, Maryland (1999): N+1 and N+N design with three 2 MW diesel generators and four 750 kVA UPS units.
Mexico City Airport Terminal 2 (2006): Tier 4 data center with dual utility feeds and 200% redundant UPS power.
Telemar, Rio de Janeiro (2001–2002): power room with 6 MW of redundant cogeneration and a separate operations and maintenance contract.
AT&T, Jacksonville (1998): generator and switchgear replacement for a 24/7 main data center, with no service interruption.

What is defined up front

The critical load and its expected growth.
The redundancy level (N+1, N+N, dual feeds).
UPS and BESS autonomy.
Primary power: grid, solar with BESS or on-site generation.
The availability indicators in the operations contract.

Mission-critical track record

ESI, PMI and GIS Power, since 1983

Project	Location	Year	Scope
GTE Data Services Technology Center, phases I–III	Tampa, FL	1987–1994	Technology center with computer rooms: design, program management and construction
GTE Data Services	Fort Wayne, IN	1992–1993	Data megacenter, design-build
GTE Data Services	Sacramento, CA	1993–1994	Data megacenter, design-build
Telmex	Mexico City	1994	Switching facility: redundant power systems and paralleled generation
GTE Data Services Mexico	Mexico City	1998	N+1 data center, design-build
AT&T Solutions	Jacksonville, FL	1998	Generators and switchgear for a 24/7 data center, with no interruption
Nielsen Media Research	Dunedin, FL	1999	Data center, paralleled generation and redundant UPS
DIGEX Web Farm	Maryland	1999	N+1 and N+N web farm
PwC, national headquarters	Mexico City	1999	Redundant power and cooling with cogeneration and absorption chillers
Telemar, phases I and II	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2001–2002	Data centers with 6 MW of redundant cogeneration
TNEXT Data Center	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2002	Data center and web farm, design-build
TSA, 72 airports	United States	2002–2003	High-availability power systems for security screening equipment
Mexico City Airport Terminal 2	Mexico City	2006	Tier 4 data center, design-build
Alestra Green Data Center	Querétaro, Mexico	2013–2014	Modular data center with 4.2 MW of cogeneration

Source: PMI International project history (ESI, PMI and PME) and GIS Power company profile.

See the Alestra project Power for data centers

Four decades of continuous work: mission-critical first, power plants next

Investment in each group project by delivery year. Below, plants and studies with no published amount.

Takeaway

The group has never stopped building: from 1993 to 2006, data centers and critical facilities in the US, Brazil and Mexico; since 2009, on-site power plants.

Alestra (2014) joins both stories: a data center with its own generation. It is the direct precedent of Green Data Center.

PMI International and GIS Power track records. The 13 mission-critical facilities total USD 317 M; other projects are not counted in that figure. BBVA Lago Esmeralda: design of a USD 250 M project, not group-executed investment.

Power plant at Alestra Green Data Center

Frequently asked questions

Does backup generation need a permit?

No, if it is only for your own use during emergencies or supply interruptions: the Electricity Sector Law exempts it from permitting regardless of capacity (art. 19). If the plant will run continuously and is 0.7 MW or larger, it does need a permit.

Can solar and BESS be combined with a mission-critical facility?

Yes. Solar with BESS can be the primary power, while the continuity layer (UPS, backup and redundant distribution) is designed separately, to its own criteria. That is the approach of Green Data Center by GIS Power.

Do you work on facilities that are already running?

Yes. Much of the group’s track record consists of expansions and replacements at sites that could not stop, such as AT&T’s data center in Jacksonville or the GTE expansions.

Who operates the facility afterwards?

GIS Power can operate and maintain it with availability indicators in the contract, or hand it over to the client’s team with training and procedures.

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Corporate profile

Who we are, what we do, how to contract and the group's projects, in 4 pages to share with your team.

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