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Power Fundamentals

Harmonics

Harmonics are voltage or current waveform distortions caused by nonlinear loads such as power electronics. In data centers, UPS systems, variable-speed drives, and IT power supplies can make harmonic performance relevant to heating, losses, nuisance trips, and power quality.

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Wholesale colocation

Wholesale colocation serves larger deployments, often measured in hundreds of kW to multiple MW and delivered as suites, data halls, or dedicated capacity blocks. It behaves more like infrastructure leasing than small-scale hosting.

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Energy charge

An energy charge bills total consumption, usually in dollars per kWh. It captures volume of electricity consumed, while demand charges capture the system capacity needed to serve the customer's peak.

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Critical load

Critical load is the IT or facility load that must remain powered to avoid service interruption. It drives UPS, generator, switchgear, distribution, and redundancy design more directly than total campus load.

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