San Francisco-based startup NetworkOcean intends to build data centers underwater. However, as Datacenter Dynamics reports, the company’s plans may clash with American bureaucracy, as local regulators are concerned about the potential impact of data centers on the environment.
NetworkOcean intends to locate a 500-kW data center in the San Francisco Bay. According to the company, its solution will eliminate the consumption of water by the data center and reduce energy consumption by 30% compared to its terrestrial counterpart. It is alleged that the startup has 2048 NVIDIA H100 accelerators at its disposal, the rental of which is cheaper than other operators. The company is backed by Y Combinator.
However, the company’s plans raised eyebrows among local authorities because it had not sought permission to submerge the object. The Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board have already notified businesses that unauthorized data center occupancy may result in fines of up to several hundred thousand dollars.
Image source: Y Combinator
NetworkOcean intends to immerse the data center for just an hour – it is stated that the tests will take place on a private territory of the bay, to which the power of regulators allegedly does not extend, and there will be no impact on nature. The company announced that it had already tested the data center capsule at a certain test site and it was found to be completely safe. Previously, one of the founders of the startup also conducted experiments with placing equipment on an offshore buoy, but refused to answer questions about obtaining permits.
According to a number of scientists, any “disturbance” of the ecosystem in the bay or a local increase in water temperature in it caused by the operation of the data center can have significant consequences for marine flora and fauna, since it can provoke the growth of algae that is toxic to the ecosystem. In 2016, regulators nearly fined Microsoft for hosting an underwater data center in San Luis Obispo Bay as part of Project Natick.
In 2018, off the coast of Scotland, Microsoft deployed an underwater data center with 855 servers that operated unattended for 25 months and 8 days. The experiment showed that servers break down less often underwater than on land; constant external temperature was cited as one of the success factors. The project was discontinued and now the company does not have underwater data centers, but Project Natick is used as a research platform for studying and testing new concepts for increasing data center reliability.
With electricity scarce on land, the prospect of using ocean currents for natural cooling is tempting, potentially helping to reduce energy costs and loads on electrical grids. For example, China’s HiCloud reports underwater data center modules being used at a depth of 35 m off the coast of Hainan province. The startup Subsea Cloud also announced that it had deployed 13.5 thousand “underwater” GPU servers in Asia. They should start working next year after receiving all permits and approvals from regulators.