As the data center industry increasingly searches for low-carbon and less water-intensive ways to cool facilities, a number of different methods have been proposed, with everything from underwater to orbital data centers suggested. Denv-R, a French startup, proposes to float data centers on urban rivers.
The company is planning to start testing this out as soon as next year, with a test facility to be launched on the Loire river by the Quai Wilson island in Nantes.
The facility would have a capacity of 200kW, spanning 10m in length, 8m in width, and 3m in height. The render, as per IMT Atlantique, reveals that the floating structure has both solar panels and wind turbines and will be built from recycled steel. So, the project ticks a lot of sustainability boxes so far, and the company also claims that due to it being equipped with renewable energy sources, its power supply could be "largely autonomous."
IMT Atlantique
This is not the first time that such an idea has been floated and follows the US's Nautilus Data Technologies, which launched a similar project. This project, however, will be on a smaller scale in order for the facilities to be deployed on urban rivers.
Speaking about their plan, CEO Vincent Le Breton and CTO Maxime Rozier said: "We are going to recover the cold water from a river to lower the temperature of the data center via a closed circuit system. Without pumping water and without other air conditioning." Adding that the project could "reduce energy consumption by 40% and C02 emissions by 40%. Not a small saving when you know that these sites are responsible for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions."
Further to this, Le Breton said: "A data center should ideally be as close as possible to its users and therefore in towns. But in cities land is scarce and expensive. On the water, there is room."
