Google Considers Floating Data Centers

Last year Google filed for a patent for a "floating data center" that would use wave motion to generate electricity to power on board computers. It would also use ocean water to cool the computers. Submitted in February last year, it was just spotted by Slashdot this past Saturday in the U.S. Patent and Trademark office's electronic filings.

Google engineers imagine their self powered data centers floating anywhere from three to seven miles off the coast and operating completely off the grid. The center would be powered by machines developed by British company Pelamis Wave Power that consist of pumps suspended in the water by pontoons. The engineers calculated that 30 megawatts of electricity, enough to power one center, could be generated by an array of pontoons spread across a square kilometer. Pelamis already has a prototype of its system operating off the coast of Scotland and plan to install one off Portugal. The center's computers would be housed in ordinary shipping containers which could easily be transported by truck and moved by crane. Ocean water would be used as a cooling system, operating as a kind of heat sink in which seawater-freshwater heat exchangers would be used to cool the computers. There would also be living quarters for a crew and operating staff, and most likely a helipad for transportation.

Google believes there are several advantages to operating such a system. The floating data center would be a solution to both rising electricity costs and the growing concern over the environment. The Pelamis generators offer both cheap and clean power. In addition, the floating centers allow computers to be placed in proximity to where they are needed, thereby cutting down on transmission costs. The patent application highlights the advantages of such mobility: "transient needs for computing power may arise in a particular area. For example, a military presence may be needed in an area, a natural disaster may bring a need for computing or telecommunication presence in an area until the natural infrastructure can be repaired or rebuilt."

Several other companies are interested in the idea, including San Francisco based International Data Security, which sees a big advantage to having floating computers in an earthquake prone area. IDS' plan would have data centers on ships anchored in port rather than floating out at sea, however.

The floating data centers could also raise some legal issues. According to Rich Miller of Data Center Knowledge, "The offshore location also raises interesting questions about jurisdiction, and which laws would govern the handling of any consumer data managed from the floating data centers. U.S. territorial waters typically extend 12 nautical miles, but other nations' claims range from 3 miles (Singapore) to 200 miles."

[via CNET]