As more devices and applications move to the far ends of your network to support automation, faster response, and real-time decision-making, two things must follow: data and power.
While data transmission has experienced decades of transformation (consider Fiber to the Edge), power distribution has remained largely unchanged in the past 130+ years.
As a result, power costs can quickly grow out of control if traditional distribution methods are applied to modern edge environments.
Digital Electricity® offers a new option for bringing power to remote, device-dense locations.
Let’s break down the cost categories associated with both power options—conventional AC power distribution and Digital Electricity (DE)—so you can make an educated choice about how to power the network edge as you plan your next project.
Direct Costs: What You Pay Upfront
Many differences show up in terms of material and labor requirements when comparing traditional power distribution to Digital Electricity. While conventional AC power relies on a mix of costly hardware, DE uses lightweight, low‑voltage infrastructure.
Materials
When bringing power to the network edge, many components are typically needed:
- Conduit and raceways for each branch circuit, along with junction boxes, supports, and terminations
- Large‑gauge copper conductors to carry current, manage voltage drop, and meet code over long distances
- Distributed drivers and power supplies that are installed in the field near loads
This hardware is needed primarily for protection against shock and arc faults, and it adds significant costs, potential failure points, and complexity, especially as distances increase.
Digital Electricity systems significantly reduce the amount of electrical equipment required to power remote devices. As fault‑managed power systems, they continuously monitor for unsafe conditions and stop power distribution when a fault is detected. This enables safe performance without heavy conduit, raceways, or enclosures.
Instead of distributed drivers and local power supplies, conversion and backup are centralized in the transmitter/UPS stack; receiver units are used as standardized endpoints. This often eliminates the need for panelboard additions, step‑down transformers, and other components that feed distant branch circuits.
Labor and Installation
In edge applications, traditional AC power distribution is labor‑intensive. Licensed electricians are required for most tasks, including:
- Bending and hanging conduit
- Pulling heavy‑gauge copper
- Completing terminations
Once electricians are finished with their work, then limited-energy crews come on scene to install communications cabling in different pathways.
Because there’s a shortage of qualified workers and a backlog of work, projects are often delayed due to electrician availability.
DE installation follows a different approach—one aligned with Class 2 wiring methods. In most situations, it can be deployed by low‑voltage or limited-energy installers, freeing electricians to focus on feeding central equipment.
Since Digital Electricity is delivered via powered fiber or small‑gauge copper cabling, it can be delivered in existing data pathways, making it faster and less disruptive to deploy.
Permits, Inspections, and Design
The upfront design work required for traditional power is expensive: Engineers must coordinate panel locations, conduit routes, clearances, and separation from low‑voltage systems, often across multiple floors and trades.
Electrical permitting and inspections follow once design documents are submitted. This can cause delays as teams wait before work can proceed:
- Plans must be reviewed
- Permits must be issued
- Inspections must be scheduled
- Comments must be resolved
Because Digital Electricity is a type of fault‑managed power and often treated similar to limited‑energy wiring in many jurisdictions, its permitting and installation path is less complex. For instance, permits and inspections aren’t required in several regions, which contributes to lower costs and faster timelines.
DE doesn’t require conduit, can share pathways with data, or be run in hybrid cables. As a result, electrical designs are simpler and create fewer clashes with mechanical and structural systems. This reduces engineering hours, RFIs, and inspection cycles, which also reduces costs and accelerates timelines.
Operational Expenditures: What You Pay to Run the System
Beyond what it costs to build, you also need to understand what it will cost to keep your system running year after year.
Maintenance, Truck Rolls, and Uptime
Conventional edge deployment often includes thousands of components: LED drivers, local UPS units, PoE injectors, etc. Each device creates a potential failure point that could cause downtime and trigger service calls later.
It can be time-consuming to trace issues back through multiple panels, branch circuits, and concealed junctions. Once the issue is identified, then a licensed electrician has to come out to the site to correct it.
DE reduces the amount of hardware deployed; it also eliminates the opportunity for problems. When something goes wrong, fault isolation is easier and faster. Built‑in monitoring and addressable channels make remote diagnostics possible, helping maintain high uptime.
Energy Efficiency and Cooling
Every distributed AC‑DC converter or LED driver wastes a fraction of its input as heat, which reduces efficiency while also increasing cooling loads.
DE centralizes conversion stages in controlled spaces, which cuts down on small, inefficient conversion points. Over the span of an edge deployment, this helps support sustainability goals and can qualify projects for incentives.
Flexibility and Upgrades
When traditional power distribution is involved, moving or adding edge devices often means installing new conduit, pulling additional conductors, and/or upgrading panels. Because this work typically requires new permits, opening ceilings or walls, and bringing licensed electricians back onsite, changes tend to be slow, expensive, and highly disruptive in occupied spaces.
DE routes power through communications cabling. This makes reconfiguration of an edge deployment similar to moving network drops: It can be done quickly and with less disruption. Additional loads are often supported by simply reallocating power channels, adding receiver units, or expanding transmitter capacity in an existing rack.
The Case for a New Power Strategy
Traditional AC power distribution can get power where it needs to go, but it often does so with higher costs, more maintenance, and less flexibility.
Digital Electricity offers a path for modern edge projects that’s as flexible as your data infrastructure and can:
- Lower capital expenses
- Streamline installation
- Reduce operational overhead
- Let you adapt to new tech and business needs
By weighing the direct and indirect costs of each approach, you can make an informed decision about how to power the network edge in a way that keeps today’s costs under control while powering the future.
