Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2021)

WORKBOAT THE DATA BARGE “With our partners at Elliott Bay

Design Group we’ve married the best of maritime technology and adapted that for use in the data center environment to produce a data center that is among the highest performing in the world, the most energy ef? cient in the world, and critically, super sustainable ... the fourth feature is ? exibility and mobility.” – Jim Connaughton, CEO, NDT –

Watch the interview @ bit.ly/3mtZmw9 the cooling solution provides a preferable solution to keeping ally different about this barge from most of the barges out the computers cool, it also provides another key strategic ad- there,” he said, noting that the NDT units are designed and vantage according to Connaughton: Sustainability. built to ocean marine standards “so that barge can be pulled “We gather up cool water and circulate that through an anywhere on the planet and stand-up to the ocean environ- open loop to a heat exchanger. Then we connect that to a ment, mobilized and re mobilized anywhere in the world.” closed loop of pure water inside the data halls, and we bring On the other hand, Complita calls it “Probably one of the that cold water right to the back of the computer racks to pull most unique vessels I’ve ever worked on,” premised on the the heat off the servers. Then we take that warm water back unique systems found onboard, including the orientation of out to the open loop and put it back in the environment, with a the sea water cooling system. “In most barges and ships you very low (return) temperature impact. So we are harmonious have a sea chest at the aft end of the vessel, kind of down low, with the thermal signature of this industrial activity, which where you take in the water and then discharge back out in means we can do this without any concern about harm to ? sh that same area or back out the stern. In (the case of the barge- and wildlife.” based data center), because we’re facing upstream in a cur-

According to NDT, the barge-based data center is 75% rent, we’re taking advantage of that natural ? ow and the water more energy ef? cient in cooling compared to air conditioning, comes in to the intakes at the very front of the barge and then which is a powerful argument in and of itself. But add in that runs through the piping system in the vessel and then back out the barge-based system consumes no water – “we just borrow the back end of the vessel.” it for 16 seconds,” said Connaughton – and is uses no water With an eye on both keeping the valuable ‘cargo’ suf? - treatment chemicals or refrigerants, the ‘Sustainability’ claim ciently cooled and being kind to the environment, the seawa- grows stronger. ter cooling lines on the barge-based data center are large and unique – 18-inches in diameter – “which is done intentionally

Not your Standard Barge Load with some other features to minimize the environmental im-

While the cargo on NDT’s data barge might be unique, pact to the sea life in the area.” To that end, there are large ro- the barge itself will look most familiar according to Michael tating screens on the end of the vessel where the water comes

Complita, PE – VP Strategic Expansion, EBDG. “From a na- in, using the natural convection of the river to ensure that the val architecture side, I would say in one respect nothing’s re- ? ow through the system is very light.

36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • November 2021

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