AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES: Bolis Ibrahim is the President of Cence Power and a leading advocate for safe, energy-efficient DC power distribution. With more than a decade of experience in electrical engineering and technology commercialization, Ibrahim specializes in energy-limited Class 2 and Class 4 DC systems that support sustainability, reduce embodied carbon, and enable smarter electrical design. Bolis regularly presents on emerging UL and NEC standards and has contributed to the deployment of more than 2 million square feet of buildings utilizing advanced DC power systems. Zenon Radewych is a Principal at WZMH Architects, where he leads the firm's high technology sector, specializing in mission-critical buildings such as data centers. With a strong track record in managing fast-paced, multidisciplinary projects, Zenon is also a driving force behind innovation in the AEC industry. He founded Sparkbird, WZMH’s R&D lab, and co-established Giraffe Apps to advance smart building technologies and efficient design practices. Anjanaa Santhanam is the Technical Growth Marketing Manager at Cence Power. She brings over a decade of experience in B2B SaaS, MarTech, and product marketing, and is currently focused on building awareness and strategy for emerging clean tech solutions in low voltage power systems. REFERENCES 1. Equinix, "What Is an Edge Data Center?," Interconnections Blog , September 12, 2024. 2. Grand View Research, Edge Data Center Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Facility Size, By Application, By End-use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024-2033 (San Francisco: Grand View Research, 2024).
3. Equinix, Global Interconnection Index Volume 6 (Redwood City, CA: Equinix, 2024). 4. Goldman Sachs, AI Infrastructure: Powering the Future of Artificial Intelligence (New York: Goldman Sachs Research, 2024). 5. Equinix, Global Interconnection Index Volume 6 . 6. Green Datacenter AG, Case Study: 380V DC Power Distribution at Zurich-West Facility (Zurich: Green Datacenter AG, 2012). 7. National Fire Protection Association, NFPA 70: National Electrical Code , Article 725: Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 Remote-Control, Signaling, and Power-Limited Circuits, 2023 ed. (Quincy, MA: NFPA, 2022). 8. National Fire Protection Association, NFPA 70 , Article 725. 9. Jared Huntington and Mike Tu, "The Architectural Imperative of 800 VDC and Integrated Energy Storage," in 800 VDC Architecture for Next-Generation AI Infrastructure (Santa Clara, CA: NVIDIA Corporation, 2025). 10. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Direct Current (DC) Power: Improved Data Center Efficiency . Berkeley, CA: LBNL, 2008. 11. Reese, Samantha, Stephen Frank, Brian Ball, and Vagelis Vossos. Cost Analysis Framework for Comparing AC and DC
emerging, early pilots and prototypes suggest strong potential for operational savings and greater flexibility.
• Raceways & Cable Routing: Limited-energy circuits can share trays with telecommunications cabling under NEC 725. No separate conduit or junction boxes are required, which is a major advantage for retrofits and edge environments. • Power Sources: Class 2 supplies are inherently limited to ≤ 60 V and ≤ 100 W at the source. Class 4 systems (limited to 450 V, and the cables' maximum capacity) are characterized by continuously monitoring the circuit for faults that, if detected, would limit the energy delivered, making it safer. THE BUSINESS CASE Energy Savings : Early research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that DC distribution could yield approximately 10 percent total energy savings compared to efficient AC baselines, largely from reduced conversion and cooling losses. 10 Installation costs : Studies from national laboratories suggest that DC distribution can lower installation and maintenance costs, particularly where conduit and breaker infrastructure are replaced by low voltage or limited energy cabling systems. 11 Footprint reduction : Fewer conversion interfaces and smaller electrical rooms reduce both the physical and carbon footprint of facilities. 12 CONCLUSION: The data center is no longer a single building; it is a constellation of compute everywhere. Power, once centralized and uniform, now needs to be distributed, efficient, and intelligent. Low voltage and fault-managed DC systems are not a rebellion against AC; they are an adaptation to a world where density and distribution coexist. The engineers who embrace that shift are not chasing a trend; they are rewriting the electrical language of our digital infrastructure. The revolution will not arrive with fanfare. It will happen quietly – one edge site, one cable tray, one intelligent circuit at a time.
Phase 3a: High-density infrastructure (10 – 24 kW per rack)
This range represents the upper bound of what Class 4 FMPS can efficiently serve today. Class 4 FMPS provides a safe DC delivery that can reduce conversion losses, minimize heat, and simplify integration with on-site renewables or energy storage. As the ecosystem of certified Class 4 equipment matures, DC systems are expected to become the default choice.
Phase 3b: Extreme-density AI infrastructure ( ≥ 24 kW per rack)
Once rack power exceeds 24 kW, Class 4 fault managed power systems (FMPS) are currently not a good fit, but could be in the future as the technology becomes more power-dense. These ultra-high-density AI racks, powered by GPU clusters exceeding 50-200 kW per rack, will increasingly depend on higher voltage DC backbones such as the emerging 800 V architecture. 9
Design Alternatives for Building Electrical Distribution Systems . Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 2021.
12. International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). IEC TS 63222-1: Guidelines for Low-Voltage Direct Current Electrical Installations – Part 1: General Requirements . Geneva: IEC, 2022.
FIGURE 5 : Cables and cable conduits inside a cable tray
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: LIMITED-ENERGY SYSTEMS
Engineers transitioning from AC to DC power design should understand what makes Class 2 and Class 4 systems distinct:
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