Floating data centres: an offshore solution to onshore concerns

Data centre developers are battling communities concerned about power shortages, pressure on water supplies and environmental issues. And that’s before considering the significant land constraints in many regions.

Given this background, floating data centres (FDCs) are having their moment. This year, Lloyd’s Register, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp signed an MoU to collaborate on an FDC design concept, noting: “By combining marine engineering with advanced data centre technology, it offers an alternative to land-based facilities, where limits on space, power and cooling are becoming more pressing.”

In Singapore, Keppel is working on a four-storey, 25MW modular FDC, designed with seawater cooling. In Yokohama, a Japanese consortium is testing a renewables-powered containerised data centre.

Although Nautilus Data Technologies opened an FDC on a barge in Stockton, California in 2021, the FDC concept remains in its infancy. However, Catalina Spataru, professor of global energy and resources at UCL, expects