In context: Pilot projects have demonstrated that undersea data centers can operate reliably without significant heat-dissipation issues. However, underwater environments support fragile ecosystems that could be seriously disrupted by artificial computing infrastructure.
Earlier this year, DeepGreen Holdings filed a preliminary permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The company is seeking to develop two data center projects designed to take advantage of underwater environments, but the proposed locations overlap with habitats of two endangered whale populations. Local communities have also voiced strong opposition to the projects.
DeepGreen plans to build its facilities beneath Cook Inlet, in Alaska, and in the Gulf of Maine. The proposed Cook Inlet facility would consist of 66 modular data center "pods," powered by 330 to 350 tidal turbines. The company expects the installation to generate 100 megawatts of power, most of which would be used to run the underwater data center.
The Maine project would be smaller, with 50 tidal turbines providing 51 megawatts of power to a cluster of data center pods. Both projects could affect the habitats of two distinct endangered whale populations. Cook Inlet is home to a genetically isolated population of beluga whales, while the Gulf of Maine serves as a feeding ground for North Atlantic right whales.
Cook Inlet's beluga population numbers around 300 individuals, while fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales remain in the population relevant to the Maine project. Whales rely on echolocation to navigate underwater environments, find food, and communicate with one another. The proposed data centers could affect their surroundings both during construction and once the facilities are operational.
According to Arial Brewer, a beluga researcher at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "skittish" animals such as whales could experience stress in different and unpredictable ways as a result of the proposed underwater data centers.
DeepGreen's plans are unprecedented in both scale and the extent of the areas they could affect. Pilot projects such as Microsoft's Project Natick have demonstrated that underwater data centers can support reliable computing operations without significant overheating problems. Seawater helps dissipate heat, potentially limiting some of the environmental impacts associated with cooling.
However, no one has yet attempted a project on the scale DeepGreen is proposing. Only two operational underwater data centers are currently known to exist, and both are located in Chinese waters. The proposed US facilities would be substantially larger, leaving little directly comparable evidence to establish their potential environmental impact.
For now, construction has not begun. FERC representative Celeste Miller said that a preliminary permit does not authorize a project to be built. The commission also required DeepGreen to amend its original proposal because it did not provide sufficient documentation concerning Indigenous tribes with historical ties to the affected areas.
According to real estate developer Louis Wolfson, who is behind DeepGreen, the company has no immediate plans to begin construction. He said DeepGreen is willing to comply with any requirements designed to protect the local environment, adding that equipment would be deployed only if it could "operate safely well within federal marine mammal thresholds."
Underwater data centers are heading for waters that endangered whales call home
