The Yongin Jukjeon Pacific Sunny Data Center, built by Hyundai Engineering & Construction, won the grand prize in the 21st Civil Engineering & Construction Technology Awards.
This project is worth 1.3 trillion won ordered by Pacific Asset Management and jointly invested by the Canadian Pension Investment Commission (CPPIB) and Shinhan Financial Investment, which has created two data centers and auxiliary facilities on 99,125 square meters (about 30,000 pyeong) of land.
It is a large data center in Korea with a power infrastructure of 64 megawatts (MW) and 100MW of power capacity. It is designed to be capable of high-density operation of 10kW or more to cope with industrial environments where demand for high-performance computing (HPC) such as cloud, Internet, and information and communication is rapidly increasing with the amount of power that 160,000 to 200,000 households can use for a day.
In addition, it has been established as a “Net neutral structure” that is not subordinate to any telecommunication business operator. In other words, an open data infrastructure has been established to accommodate the traffic needs of various global operators. Geographically, it is located adjacent to the Pangyo area, so it can function as a central base for the digital hub axis that encompasses the southern part of the metropolitan area.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction completed the data center about 43 months after the start of construction in February 2022. It was based on specialized process management capabilities and innovative construction technology.. In consideration of the narrow urban land conditions, the STD (Strut-Top-Down) method, which combines underground excavation and ground frame, is applied, and complex facilities, power, and piping processes are precisely integrated and managed through pre-construction (Pre-Construction) pre-planning services, BIM-based interference minimization design, and fast-track process operation. As a result, the construction period could be efficiently shortened while securing quality and safety.
The company also maximized the energy efficiency and operational stability of Yongin Jukjeon Data Center by utilizing advanced facility control technology and energy-saving operating systems. By introducing high-efficiency cooling systems, pre-cooling technologies, and real-time energy monitoring systems, the industry’s highest energy efficiency index (PUE) was achieved (the lower the value, the higher the energy efficiency). It meets the operating standards of global cloud companies and is evaluated as an eco-friendly energy solution that can minimize power loss and reduce carbon emissions even in the operation stage.
In addition, it has implemented a highly reliable infrastructure that can be operated 24 hours a day by meeting the stability and security of “Tier III (Tier 3) or higher”, which is the international certification standard. In the core section of the data center, emergency generators, UPSs, and refrigerators are duplicated and triple-sized, complete with an uninterruptible operation system in which the other line immediately supplies power even if one line stops.
“Yongin Jukjeon Pacific Sunny Data Center is an example of our construction company’s ability to build stable and efficient infrastructure amid the advancement of the digital industry,” a Hyundai Engineering & Construction official said. “We will expand our digital infrastructure network around major metropolitan areas and continue to develop an eco-friendly data center model that responds to the demands of the AI and cloud industries.”
Meanwhile, starting with the Bundang Center of the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute in 2004, Hyundai E&C built the largest number of data centers among domestic construction companies, including KT Mok-dong IDC, Naver Data Center ‘GAK Sejong’, and K Square Data Center Gasan. By building data centers for many global big tech companies, it has proven its technology and expertise at the level of global standards. In the future, Hyundai E&C plans to develop an eco-friendly and small module nuclear power plant (SMR) linked data center model tailored to regional energy source characteristics to simultaneously build core infrastructure and realize energy innovation in the AI era.
Recently, the domestic data center market is growing rapidly. According to R Square, a real estate service company, domestic private data center supply has grown by more than 20% annually since 2010. The Korea Data Center Association predicts that the annual market size will reach 10 trillion won in 2028. The size of the global data center market is also expected to grow from $372.8 billion (about 518 trillion won) in 2023 to $6241 billion (about 867 trillion won) in 2029. A construction industry official said, “Data centers are an area that requires comprehensive capabilities beyond simple construction projects to design, investment, and operation. It is a future food with profitability and growth potential that can replace housing and civil engineering projects for Korean construction companies.”
[Reporter Son Dongwoo]
