China Unveils Offshore Wind-Powered Underwater Data Centre In Push For Green Computing
Shanghai Facility Combines Renewable Energy And Seawater Cooling To Reduce Carbon Emissions
BEIJING — China has introduced the world’s first offshore wind-powered underwater data centre in Shanghai, marking a major breakthrough in the global effort to develop greener and more sustainable digital infrastructure.
The project, known as the Shanghai Lin-gang Underwater Data Center, is located near the eastern coast of Nanhuizui in Shanghai’s Lin-gang district and is being viewed as one of the most advanced experiments in environmentally friendly computing technology.
The underwater facility functions as a large-scale digital processing hub supporting a wide range of online activities including short-video platforms, ride-hailing services, online payments and international digital transactions with extremely low network latency.
Modern digital economies rely heavily on data centres to support internet traffic, cloud computing and artificial intelligence systems.
However, the rapid growth of the global data centre industry has also triggered concerns over rising electricity consumption and environmental impact because servers must operate continuously around the clock.
Conventional data centres additionally require large industrial cooling systems that consume substantial amounts of electricity and freshwater.
To address these concerns, the Shanghai Lin-gang Underwater Data Center integrates renewable energy with natural cooling technology.
The facility was constructed near offshore wind farms and receives electricity directly from renewable energy sources through dedicated power cables.
This arrangement reduces transmission losses while lowering operational costs associated with traditional energy distribution systems.
According to reports, more than 95 per cent of the data centre’s electricity currently comes from renewable energy sources.
The underwater centre also replaces conventional cooling systems by using seawater as a natural temperature regulator.
With seawater temperatures averaging around 15 degrees Celsius throughout the year, the servers can remain cool without relying heavily on energy-intensive refrigeration systems.
This significantly reduces electricity usage while minimising freshwater consumption typically associated with land-based data centres.
Within the technology industry, energy efficiency is measured using the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating, where lower scores indicate better efficiency.
By combining offshore wind energy and seawater cooling, the Shanghai Lin-gang Underwater Data Center has reportedly achieved a PUE rating below 1.15, a level considered highly efficient by international standards.
The project is expected to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 12,000 tonnes annually.
The launch comes at a time when global electricity demand from data centres is rising rapidly due to the expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies.
The International Energy Agency estimates that AI-related computing could account for more than half of the electricity demand generated by new data centres worldwide by 2030.
This has made green computing a growing priority for governments and technology companies worldwide.
China has spent years developing policies aimed at reducing the environmental impact of its digital economy.
In 2021, the country launched the “East Data, West Computing” initiative, which redirected large portions of data processing activities from densely populated eastern regions to western provinces rich in renewable energy resources.
In 2023, China further introduced policies encouraging coordinated development between computing infrastructure and electricity generation systems to ensure more sustainable technological growth.
The Shanghai Lin-gang Underwater Data Center is now regarded as a major symbol of those efforts and reflects China’s long-term ambition to lead in low-carbon digital technology.
Building underwater data centres remains highly challenging because very few international examples currently exist.
To ensure the facility could withstand harsh marine conditions, Chinese engineers designed a specialised cylindrical structure resistant to strong ocean waves and developed anti-corrosion coatings capable of protecting the structure from seawater erosion.
Technology experts believe the project could become a model for the next generation of sustainable global data centres as demand for artificial intelligence and large-scale computing continues to expand worldwide.
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