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They're data centers with some innovation in water cooled servers. They incorporate a heat exchanger system similar to coastal nuclear power stations to avoid r

They're data centers with some innovation in water cooled servers. They incorporate a heat exchanger system similar to coastal nuclear power stations to avoid running corrosive seawater through the system. They have the added advantage of being able to run fiber to/from the DC along the entire coast.

ChuckMcM 13y ago
Perhaps you would be surprised, or not, to discover that dumping heat into the Bay is regulated just like other pollutants. "Power plants may be located in any area where they do not interfere with and are not incompatible with residential, recreational, or other public uses of the Bay and shoreline, provided that any pollution problems resulting from the discharge of large amounts of heated brine into Bay waters, and water vapor into the atmosphere, can be precluded." -- http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/laws_plans/plans/sfbay_plan#8 http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/laws_plans/plans/sfbay_plan#8
- Symmetry 13y ago
  The engines of a large ship are going to release on the order 10 MW of heat into the ocean, and I'd expect a datacenter that could fit on that ship to release within an order of magnitude of that. By contrast, power plants can release tens of GW of heat.
  - ChuckMcM 13y ago
    True, the ships move though and much of its heat dump occurs in deep water. Power plants and datacenters create a 'warm spot' which persists. This alters the environment around their heat dump (generally in a tidal zone) and that changes the things that live there (or can live there). You point is a valid, and I don't defend the BCNC, just note that they try to regulate everything.
ProblemFactory 13y ago
Perhaps a marine engineer could answer the question I have with the floating data center idea: is it really cheaper to have a barge as a data center, rather than putting it in an empty lot next to a river, lake or sea? Light can travel 300km in a millisecond. Being closer to users doesn't seem to outweigh the extra difficulties in plumbing, power connections, network connections, risk of sinking and stormy weather. The potential for mobility doesn't seem that useful either when you need a port with exceptional power and network connectivity.
- pyoung 13y ago
  "If it floats or flies..." My guess is that these are not permanent structures. Barges are not particularly suited to harsh open ocean conditions, and as others mentioned, there are some pretty heavy regulations against 'building out' into the bay. The secrecy of it hints at a marketing ploy.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

Perhaps you would be surprised, or not, to discover that dumping heat into the Bay is regulated just like other pollutants. "Power plants may be located in any area where they do not interfere with and are not incompatible with residential, recreational, or other public uses of the Bay and shoreline, provided that any pollution problems resulting from the discharge of large amounts of heated brine into Bay waters, and water vapor into the atmosphere, can be precluded." -- http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/laws_plans/plans/sfbay_plan#8 http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/laws_plans/plans/sfbay_plan#8

Symmetry 13y ago
The engines of a large ship are going to release on the order 10 MW of heat into the ocean, and I'd expect a datacenter that could fit on that ship to release within an order of magnitude of that. By contrast, power plants can release tens of GW of heat.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  True, the ships move though and much of its heat dump occurs in deep water. Power plants and datacenters create a 'warm spot' which persists. This alters the environment around their heat dump (generally in a tidal zone) and that changes the things that live there (or can live there). You point is a valid, and I don't defend the BCNC, just note that they try to regulate everything.

ProblemFactory 13y ago

Perhaps a marine engineer could answer the question I have with the floating data center idea: is it really cheaper to have a barge as a data center, rather than putting it in an empty lot next to a river, lake or sea? Light can travel 300km in a millisecond. Being closer to users doesn't seem to outweigh the extra difficulties in plumbing, power connections, network connections, risk of sinking and stormy weather. The potential for mobility doesn't seem that useful either when you need a port with exceptional power and network connectivity.

pyoung 13y ago
"If it floats or flies..." My guess is that these are not permanent structures. Barges are not particularly suited to harsh open ocean conditions, and as others mentioned, there are some pretty heavy regulations against 'building out' into the bay. The secrecy of it hints at a marketing ploy.