SouthernWorldwide.com – Two significant global challenges, the ongoing heating of the planet due to fossil fuel combustion and the immense power demands of burgeoning AI data centers, are creating a dual problem of increased carbon emissions and rising electricity costs.
Garth Sheldon-Coulson, CEO and co-founder of Panthalassa, believes he has a solution that addresses both issues simultaneously: harnessing the power of ocean waves.
Sheldon-Coulson highlights the vast and cost-effective energy potential of the ocean, stating, “The ocean is really unlimited in terms of how much energy is available. It will really be the cheapest energy on the planet.”
He describes Panthalassa’s test model, the Ocean-2, as akin to a floating hydroelectric dam. The device’s movement with the waves forces water up into a tube and into a ball, where it then passes through a turbine, generating electricity.
A test of the Panthalassa Ocean-2 wave energy converter, which would generate electricity to power sea-based data centers. Panthalassa
The latest design, the Ocean-3, introduces a significant innovation: it is a self-propelled system without an anchor or cables, meaning it is not tethered to the ocean floor.
Garth Sheldon-Coulson, CEO and co-founder of Panthalassa, with a model of the Ocean-3. CBS News
Sheldon-Coulson likens its autonomous nature to a “little Roomba, except it’s enormous.”
These devices function as self-contained, floating data centers. They generate their own electricity from wave energy, process AI computing tasks on-site, and transmit the results via satellite, eliminating the need for cables to bring power back to shore.
“When you deploy many of our systems, they work together basically as a data center,” Sheldon-Coulson explained. “So, we think of it as a really good alternative to data centers on land.”
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Panthalassa has secured sufficient private funding, as it offers AI companies a more rapid and environmentally friendly alternative to constructing land-based data centers. The production of the Ocean-3 units is already advanced.
Sheldon-Coulson anticipates these offshore data centers will be operational by August of this year. Their key advantages include being clean, requiring no fuel, not utilizing land space, avoiding disruption to land-based activities, and offering rapid scalability.
The company’s long-term vision is to deploy thousands of these units in offshore locations.
“It is really exciting that we’re working on something that is coming along right at the right time, in a way that’s much cleaner, much more sustainable, and quite scalable, so that we can really meet that demand as it comes,” Sheldon-Coulson stated.
For more information:
- Panthalassa
Story produced by Annie Iezzi. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
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