NBN Co is hoping to have the energy usage of its technical aggregation nodes assessed under the NABERS rating for data centres.
The network builder revealed in its latest annual report (pdf) that it has "set a target to assess all of the TANDs against the NABERS data centre energy rating once they have been fully operational for a minimum of twelve months."
TANDs are technical aggregation node and deployment facilities. They are perhaps better known as the multi-purpose network hubs that Emerson is building for NBN Co under a $100 million deal brokered in 2011.
The facilities are pre-fabricated and consist of data centre power and cooling modules and potentially on-site substations.
Three of the ten Emerson-built facilities had been brought online as at the end of June this year, according to the annual report.
iTnews reported earlier today that Fujitsu's Noble Park data centre is the first facility in Australia to receive a NABERS rating for data centres.
In addition to meeting NABERS rating rules, the TAND facilities will use sensors, skylights and air conditioning systems "designed to achieve best practice power usage efficiency (PUE)", NBN Co said, without specifying targets.
The plan to meet NABERS ratings is but one of a series of energy efficiency measures that NBN Co is pursuing as part of the construction process.
NBN Co said it had purchased 50 percent "greenpower for all of the facilities under its control for the year".
It has also "investigated the installation of photovoltaic systems" for its satellite earth stations in regional Australia. The investigation is said to have resulted in "favourable financial performance", suggesting that the systems will be put into use.
Transit network
NBN Co will require some form of transit or backhaul network, no matter which political party is in charge.
"The transit network is the backbone of the NBN, providing connectivity between the three access networks and the points of interconnect where RSPs [retail service providers] connect to the NBN," NBN Co said.
"When completed, the transit network will link approximately 940 Fibre Access Node (FAN) sites, 121 PoI sites and 415 Intermediate Access Points (IAPs). These sites will be connected by approximately 65,000 kilometres of transit fibre."
NBN Co said it had deployed 22,736 kilometres of transit fibre and 34 transit rings at a capital cost of $409 million as at the end of June 2013.
Prior to the election, the company was targeting the completion of its core transit network "by the end of FY2015".
The company said it is making use of Telstra dark fibre where possible, and also revealed it has an indefeasible right of use (IRU) to take capacity on the Government-built Regional Backbone Blackspots Program backhaul network.
Those IRU rights required no financial consideration to be paid to the former Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), according to NBN Co.
"This arrangement has been accounted for as a government grant and the assets have been measured at fair value at date of recognition being $68,576,000 (2012: $Nil)," it said.
