A data center can house and manage operation of IT equipment. The data center can include a battery system to act as a back-up energy source and/or as a supplemental energy source to the IT equipment. For example, the IT equipment may be powered by utility grid. If utility power is down, the IT equipment can be powered by the battery system. Additionally, or alternatively, the battery system can supplement the utility grid (or other power source) during peak power demand, which can occur at times when IT equipment provides especially power-consuming services.

A battery can produce thermal energy when operating (charging and/or discharging), due to current and internal resistance of cells and hardware. This thermal energy can reduce operating efficiency of the data center, especially if the battery cycles (charges and discharges) frequently. To mitigate this loss of efficiency, some of the thermal energy can be harvested and stored.