Matching renewable energy supply and demand in green datacenters

In this paper, we propose GreenSlot, a scheduler for parallel batch jobs in a datacenter powered by a photovoltaic solar array and the electrical grid (as a backup). GreenSlot predicts the amount of solar energy that will be available in the near future, and schedules the workload to maximize the green energy consumption while meeting the jobs’ deadlines. If grid energy must be used to avoid deadline violations, the scheduler selects times when it is cheap. Evaluation results show that GreenSlot can increase solar energy consumption by up to 117% and decrease energy cost by up to 39%, compared to conventional schedulers, when scheduling three scientific workloads and a data processing workload. Based on these positive results, we conclude that green datacenters and green-energy-aware scheduling can have a significant role in building a more sustainable IT ecosystem.