China has completed construction of the world’s first wind-powered underwater data centre (UDC), that could transform how the vast digital infrastructure driving AI, cloud computing and big data is powered.
Located in the Lin-gang Special Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, the $226m UDC project is being hailed as a milestone in the integration of offshore renewable energy with next-generation computing.
Artist's rendering of the wind-powered underwater data centre. Image: Shanghai Hailanyun Technology
The facility boasts a total power capacity of 24 megawatts (MW) and draws about 97% of its electricity from offshore wind. It is cooled using ocean water that is circulated through its 198 radiator-equipped racks.
This significantly reduces both energy consumption and land use. For comparison traditional land-based data centres require up to 40% of the power supply for cooling alone.
The project blends offshore wind power with subsea technology to demonstrate how energy efficiency and sustainability can be achieved on a large scale.
A new digital frontier
According to the administrative committee of the Lin-gang Special Area, the new facility’s completion represents a turning point in the green and smart evolution of computing infrastructure.
In contrast to traditional land-based data centres, the UDC is made to cut overall power consumption by nearly 23%. It also eliminates water use entirely and reduces land requirements by more than 90%.
The project cost about $226m. Image: Shanghai Hailanyun Technology
Instead of relying on massive air-conditioning systems, the underground data centre uses seawater as a natural cooling medium. This brings cooling-related energy use down to below 10%.
The facility reached a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio below 1.15. This level exceeds China’s national green data centre target of 1.25 set for 2025.
The lower the PUE, the more efficiently a data centre uses power. This makes the installation one of the most energy-efficient in the world. For data centre projects in national hub nodes, the PUE standard is no higher than 1.2.
Future expansion
The project is part of Shanghai’s broader goal to turn the coastal region into a global smart computing and clean energy innovation centre. As per municipal officials, the city aims to grow its intelligent computing cloud industry to more than $28bn by 2025.
It also plans to reach a total computing capacity of 200 exaFLOPS. This is equal to one quintillion floating point operations per second. For reference, in 2021, Tesla’s supercomputer achieved 1.8 exaFLOPS.
Meanwhile, several companies, such as Shanghai Hicloud Technology, Shenergy Group, China Telecom and China Communications Construction Company, have signed agreements to jointly develop a 500-megawatt offshore wind-powered underwater data centre cluster.
However, experts note that although the technology holds great promise, further development is required before large-scale deployment becomes cost-effective.
“Construction of UDCs is still in its initial stage,” said Wang Shifeng, chairman of Third Harbor Engineering. “To achieve the transition from demonstration projects to large-scale application, progress is still required in terms of technological maturity and cost optimisation.”
Shifeng added that the company plans to prioritise advances in key technologies for offshore computing infrastructure, improve operations and maintenance and pursue greener, low-carbon upgrades.