Keysource, an expert in business critical environments, is warning data centre operators and tenants that they have less than six months to ensure they meet the requirements of ESOS, the new EU legislation which monitors energy management. Companies that fail to comply, or risk large penalties.

ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) is the UK Government’s approach to meeting Article 8 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, which has set energy efficiency reduction targets of 20% by 2020. The scheme is mandatory for all businesses with more than 250 employees, or a turnover and balance sheet of €50 million and €43 million respectively.

In simple terms, it requires organisations to carry out an energy audit of their operations and produce a report showing compliance by 5 December 2015. This means understanding its energy sources and consumption and carrying out a representative sample of site surveys to identify actionable energy reducing measures.

ESOS is likely to greatly affect the data centre sector, as the power drawn on the IT Load and supporting infrastructure will be subject to compliance and Keysource is urging businesses to get specialist advice.

Keysource’s audit specialists have also consulted with the Environment Agency to gain clarification on how this new legislation affects co-location data centre operators. It found that both the provider and client are likely to have obligations within a co-location data centre due to both having ownership of equipment that draws energy. In fact, The Environment Agency suggested that, where both the operator and tenant are within the scheme, ESOS compliance should be the responsibility of the party who would be most able to easily action the measures recommended during the audit.

Head of safety, health and environment, at Keysource, Justin Busk, said: 'This legislation is complex and it can be hard for organisations to see how it will impact their business. We would advise them not to view this as just another piece of compliance legislation, as we believe it provides great opportunities for both a reduction in operation costs and power usage as well as an increase in resilience.'

Keysource has teamed up with Ricardo-AEA, an expert in energy and climate change, to advise companies on ESOS compliance. In addition Keysource has also developed a white paper entitled 'Delivering real savings and reducing risk whilst ensuring your ESOS compliance,' providing further information. This can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/pde9mpz