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Underwater Data Centers Proposed in Endangered Whale Habitats
· Confirmed
In Short: DeepGreen, a company planning to build underwater data centers, has proposed projects in the Gulf of Maine and Cook Inlet, Alaska, both critical habitats for endangered whale populations, according to the Scientific American.
The Scientific American reports that the Maine project would involve a cluster of “subsea-compute hives” or “data center pods” resting on the seabed, powered by up to 50 tidal turbines across 27 acres. In contrast, the Nationofchange notes that the company initially planned for 400 acres and 170 turbines but scaled back to 27 acres and 51 megawatts after FERC found four deficiencies in the application.
The Timesofisrael (Israel) and Scifinow (United Kingdom) focus on different aspects of underwater projects, with Timesofisrael reporting on flooding issues in Bangkok and Scifinow discussing a Netflix series Below, which features a creature from a black lagoon.
Community backlash has been strong in Eastport, Maine, where the city council voted unanimously to bar data center approvals for 180 days, according to the Nationofchange. The city’s move aims to prevent data center projects by amending the city’s Zoning and Shoreland Zoning ordinances.
The Scientific American highlights that the proposed data centers in the Gulf of Maine and Cook Inlet, Alaska, are located in the middle of endangered whale habitats. Arial Brewer, a beluga researcher at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, notes that whales are “skittish animals” and that a massive-scale project could stress them out in various ways.
Vishal Misra, a computer scientist and professor at Columbia University, told Scientific American that cooling is a significant cost for data centers, and seawater is a free sink. The company plans to use tidal power and water cooling to offset the heat generated by thousands of servers.
The Nationofchange reports that the developer, DeepGreen, has cut the plan from 400 acres to 27 and from 51 megawatts to 15 after FERC found four deficiencies. The company must respond to FERC within 45 days, or the application could be rejected.
The current application is for a preliminary permit, which does not authorize construction but maintains priority for a license while the company studies the site and prepares to apply for a license. FERC’s acceptance of the application means it is now considered complete, and the commission is inviting public comments.
The Scientific American notes that currently, there are only two operational underwater data centers in the world, one off the Chinese island of Hainan and another off the coast of Shanghai, and they are a fraction of the size of the proposed centers in the U.S.
The company’s plans face significant hurdles, including environmental concerns and community opposition. The Nationofchange and Themainemonitor agree that the project requires a license, which is a more involved and expensive process.
Despite the challenges, DeepGreen’s proposal highlights the potential for underwater data centers to leverage natural resources like tidal power and seawater cooling, but also underscores the need for careful environmental and community considerations.
The Scientific American and Nationofchange agree that the proposed data centers in the Gulf of Maine and Cook Inlet, Alaska, are located in critical habitats for endangered whale populations, and the project faces significant community and environmental opposition.
What this adds
The Scientific American and Nationofchange highlight the environmental and community concerns surrounding the proposed underwater data centers, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of their impact on endangered whale habitats.
Background
DeepGreen, a company planning to build underwater data centers, has proposed projects in the Gulf of Maine and Cook Inlet, Alaska, both critical habitats for endangered whale populations.
The paper "One Quarter of Global Data Centers are Located in Water-Stressed Areas".
What's confirmed
- DeepGreen told FERC that the “total proposed project operational capacity has been scaled down to a maximum of 15 MW (megawatts) to align with revised commercial modeling,” against an earlier proposal of up to 51 megawatts.
What's still developing
- One study found that when ship noise decreased immediately after 9/11, right whales in the Gulf of Maine had lower levels of stress hormones.
- “The water keeps coming in. It’s hard to go out now. It’s like at my waist level now,” said Somkid Pheuk-ngam, 67, a vendor who lives near a canal just north of central Bangkok.
- For travelers, coral reefs offer some of the ocean’s most memorable encounters: schools of fish moving through branching corals, intricate underwater landscapes, and the discovery of a world just beneath the surface.
- In an interview with Earth.com, Zhang said the solar cells would suit reef monitoring and fish farms, along with underwater vehicles, detectors, lighting and communication gear.
- “Owing to the limited solar photon flux in underwater environment, we had anticipated substantially lower charging output, for instance, 50~100 mWh at 10 m water depth,” Zhang told Earth.com.
- Dim ocean light could keep sensors running longer and help researchers collect continuous data from hard-to-reach areas.
- In February, DeepGreen filed a 48‑month preliminary permit application with FERC to begin engineering and environmental tests in Maine, a required first step toward developing an underwater artificial intelligence data center in the Bay of Fundy.
- A couple was exploring underwater near Fiji’s Salamanda shipwreck when William Paterson signaled for a photo, then pulled out a ring beneath the surface, catching his girlfriend, Kim, completely off guard. (SWNS) Fiji has officially declared a national HIV emergency on its shores after alarming data revealed that one in 60 adults in the South Pacific island nation is living with the virus.
- The company wants to build a $100 million tidal-powered, water-cooled artificial intelligence data center in the Western Passage of the Bay of Fundy, near Kendall Head off the northern coast of Eastport, with an active footprint of about 27 acres.
- Eastport has about 1,300 year-round residents and sits on the Canadian border.
- Emily Carter, chief of FERC’s New England branch in the Division of Hydropower Licensing, gave the company 45 days to respond and warned that the application could be rejected if it did not supply the data.
- “I feel like in all the many years I’ve lived here, I’ve never encountered anything like this, where it rains continuously for days,” said 63-year-old resident Anutin Meechamnan.
Sources
- Nationofchangelink
- Scientific Americanlink
- Themainemonitorlink
- Timesofisraellink
- Scifinowlink
- Drifttravellink
- Earthlink
- Varietylink
- Fox Newslink
- WarpBeat — background on Underwater Data Centers Proposed in Endangered Whale Habitats link
- WarpBeat — background on Study Reveals One Quarter of Data Centers in Water-Stressed Areas link
- Tech Quake — video link