Gui'an's Tencent Qixing Data Center takes advantage of the natural environment to save on energy. [Photo/ddcpc website]

According to China Civil Engineering Society, 45 projects were selected as part of the second group of recipients of the 20th Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize, including Tencent Qixing Data Center (Phase 1) in Gui'an New Area, designed by Guizhou Transportation Planning Survey & Design Academe Co.

It is the only winning project in the "tunnel engineering" category.

The Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize is the country's highest honor in the field of civil engineering construction projects in terms of technological innovation. The winning projects are outstanding civil engineering construction projects with significant achievements in scientific and technological innovation and application.

Gui'an's Tencent Qixing Data Center (Phase 1) is the first underground cave-depot data center in China. It is a new type of data center that places electronic information equipment in excavated chambers within a mountain. This innovative design took the national big data strategy and Guizhou's mountain resources into consideration, creating a high-security and energy-efficient data center.

The project utilized the thermal insulation function of the surrounding rock mass of the excavated chambers to create a temperature buffer zone that provides stable temperature and humidity for equipment operation.

To reduce the load on the fans, the project took advantage of the chimney effect of the ventilation in the excavated chambers and designed large-diameter vertical shafts as heat dissipation channels.

Additionally, it adopted innovative technologies such as "cold-hot separation" and "independent compartments," as well as methods like "indirect evaporative heat exchange + cold water evaporation pre-cooling" to save on energy and protect the environment.

Tencent Qixing Data Center (Phase 1) also received the first-place prize of the 2022 Tunnel And Underground Space Engineering Innovation Award from the China Highway & Transportation Society, as well as the 2022-23 National Quality Engineering Award from the China Association of Construction Enterprise Management.