by Larry Dignan
September 8th, 2008 @ 2:08 am

Google is pondering a floating data center that could be powered and cooled by the ocean. These offshore data centers could sit 3 to 7 miles offshore and reside in about 50 to 70 meters of water. The search giant filed for a patent in February that was approved Aug. 28.

The patent outlines a concept that would not only be savvy engineering, but deliver great returns. Rich Miller at Data Center Knowledge called Google’s patent a “startling new take on data center engineering.” I’d call it brilliant engineering, but the financial engineering could be even more impressive.

To wit:
* Google could power these data center pontoons with wind potentially and cool them with water. You could argue that these ocean data centers could be self sustaining.
* Property taxes? There’s no property.
* State negotiations and building rights? Launching these data centers may require a lot less red tape.

Google points out the painfully obvious for anyone in the data center business: “It can be expensive to build and locate data centers, and it is not always easy to find access to necessary (and inexpensive) electrical power, high-bandwidth data connections, and cooling water for such data centers.”