Summary
- Schneider Electric has introduced prefabricated electrical modules in 2MW, 2.25MW, and 2.5MW configurations using Galaxy VXL UPS technology.
- The 2.5MW configuration is specified at 400V and 5,000A and can integrate switchgear and battery systems.
- Schneider says the approach can reduce deployment time compared with a conventional stick-built electrical room, although site readiness remains critical.
Schneider Electric has introduced prefabricated data centre power modules in configurations up to 2.5MW, moving more electrical assembly and testing into the factory as developers look for faster ways to deliver high-density infrastructure.
The new range includes 2MW, 2.25MW, and 2.5MW configurations built around Schneider’s Galaxy VXL UPS platform. The largest module is specified at 400V and 5,000A and can incorporate switchgear and lithium-ion battery systems.
Schneider says the 2.5MW design can become operational in around half the time required for a conventional stick-built electrical room. That is a manufacturer claim rather than a guaranteed project schedule: grid connection, civil works, upstream transformers, commissioning, cooling, and other site infrastructure can still determine when the capacity becomes usable.
The company is targeting hyperscale, colocation, neocloud, and AI data centre deployments. It has linked the modules to reference architectures developed around high-density GPU infrastructure, including Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems.
The launch reflects the increasing scale of prefabrication in data centre electrical systems. Factory-built power rooms and skids are no longer confined to smaller edge deployments and are being designed in multi-megawatt blocks that can be repeated across large campuses.
Factory integration changes the build sequence
Prefabrication moves part of the construction programme away from the live site. UPS equipment, switchgear, controls, batteries, and associated electrical infrastructure can be integrated and tested before the completed module is transported to the data centre.
That allows factory production to run in parallel with civil and building work and can reduce the number of separate installation activities required on site. Where a campus uses several identical blocks, factory testing can also create a more repeatable commissioning process.
The approach shifts some risk earlier in the project. Interfaces for incoming power, downstream distribution, controls, fire systems, ventilation, batteries, access, maintenance, and communications have to be defined before manufacture. Late design changes can erode the programme advantage if a completed module no longer matches the site around it.
Transport becomes another engineering consideration. A multi-megawatt electrical module requires suitable road access, lifting arrangements, foundations, weather protection, and final connection works before it can be energised.
Schneider specifies efficiency of up to 99% for the Galaxy VXL platform in its eConversion mode. Actual operating efficiency depends on load, configuration, redundancy strategy, battery arrangement, and how the UPS is run as part of the complete electrical system.
AI pushes power into bigger blocks
The scale of the modules follows the movement towards higher-density AI infrastructure. Individual GPU deployments can consume enough power that electrical capacity increasingly has to be added in megawatt-scale increments rather than rack-by-rack.
That affects more than UPS sizing. High-density compute requires coordinated distribution, busways or cabling, backup systems, liquid-cooling pumps and controls, heat rejection, monitoring, and protection systems capable of handling large concentrated loads.
A standardised electrical block can make one part of that system more repeatable, particularly where the same data hall design is being deployed several times. It cannot remove constraints outside the module.
A prefabricated room delivered ahead of schedule creates little value if the site is still waiting for grid capacity, transformers, generators, cooling plant, or planning approval. The real programme benefit depends on the module arriving into a construction sequence ready to receive it.
That distinction is becoming increasingly important as suppliers market shorter data centre delivery times. The critical path can move from one package to another as equipment lead times and grid constraints change.
Schneider’s new range is therefore less a complete answer to AI data centre buildability than another part of the move towards manufacturing infrastructure in repeatable blocks. Its practical value will depend on how well those blocks integrate with the power, cooling, civil, and commissioning programmes around them.
