Ocean Data Centres: The benefits
Ocean data centers boast a compelling array of advantages.
Their high efficiency and lower operating costs make them economically attractive. Y Combinator-backed Network Ocean promises a 25% reduction in spending. As AI CEOs like Sam Altman struggle to make numbers add up (particularly when they’re spending an estimated $140M annually on electricity to power their technology), these sorts of savings are significant.
Ocean data centres also have a significantly lower failure rate than their land-based counterparts, ensuring greater reliability and uptime. Microsoft’s Project Natick, a shipping container-sized data centre submerged off the coast of Scotland, was one of the foremost research initiatives into the benefits of ocean data centres. One key finding is the dramatically lower failure rate—around an eighth of a typical data centre.
The environmental benefits of ocean data centres are equally impressive. Their reliance on seawater for cooling eliminates strain on on-shore water resources: they are considered to have a water usage effectiveness (WUE) score of zero, meaning they do not draw from freshwater resources needed for other human purposes.
There’s also a considerable opportunity to integrate with offshore renewable energy, such as offshore wind, tidal, or floating solar power, without the effort of having to bring this power on-shore.
Ocean Data Centres: The current standout startups
Network Ocean (https://networkocean.io/)
- Eliminates freshwater use and promises 25% lower operating costs
- Offer 2000+ H100 GPUs
- Backed by Y Combinator
Subsea Cloud (https://www.subseacloud.com/)
- Durable, responsibly sourced, modular data centre units that can be built and deployed in 12 weeks
- Promises 50% increase in efficiency and 100% water reduction
Highlander
- Chinese startup, launched first commercial underwater data centre off Hainan Island, China
- Plans to deploy 100 of these models at the same site, which would save 68,000 square metres of land, 122 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, and 105,000 tons of freshwater per year
Ocean Data Centres: Challenges to be solved
As with any emerging technology, several challenges remain.
For one, the cost and complexity of deployment. Ocean data capacity remains very low, demonstrating the challenges around rolling out submerged data centres at scale. Despite drawing positive conclusions about the viability and benefits of ocean data centres, Microsoft pulled the plug on Project Natick without committing to further development in that arena. So how can startups approach this challenge of manufacturing and deploying ocean data centres at scale?
Ensuring the durability of submerged infrastructure in the harsh marine environment, including resistance to saltwater corrosion as well as the threat of marine heatwaves, is also crucial.
One significant opportunity we see is around monitoring and impact mitigation for ocean data centres, to help measure not only their impact on the environment, but also how they respond to atmospheric changes. This could involve real-time, IoT monitoring systems to assess real time environment impacts of and to data centres—from temperature changes to noise levels to impacts on marine biodiversity.
The harshness of the underwater environment places considerable emphasis on on-going maintenance, made even more complex by the remoteness of underwater locations. We’re interested in potential solutions to this challenge, such as autonomous or remotely controlled maintenance technologies that can handle hardware upgrades, inspections, and even emergency repairs.
There is clearly a big opportunity to decarbonise the power supply of these ocean data centres, with a clear route through existing offshore energy. One potential solution could be renewable offshore microgrids, pooling energy from wind, tidal, and solar, and connecting them directly to data centres.
Despite these challenges, the potential of ocean data centers is undeniable. Investment in research and development is needed to overcome technical hurdles and accelerate their deployment.
Ocean data centers represent a sustainable and innovative solution to the growing environmental challenges posed by the AI revolution, showing we may be able to meet the world's data demands without compromising the health of our planet.
Are you innovating in this area?
We'd love to hear from you. Blue Action Accelerator is now welcoming applications from startups building in the ocean, coastal, or climate space.
