Commissioning for World’s First Zero-Water Consumption Data Center

Commissioning oversight leads to launch of first-of-its-kind data center.

At the Port of Stockton in Northern California, Nautilus Data Technologies’ (Nautilus) commercial floating water-cooled data center stands docked and ready after Black & Veatch completed commissioning oversight for this first-of-its-kind data center. The data center combines efficiency with resourcefulness, setting a new standard in data center innovation. As companies search for reliable, secure data centers to manage the digital transformation and increasing data growth, Nautilus offers a sustainable alternative for their data center needs.

Black & Veatch conducted a third-party due diligence report and commissioning oversight for the 7-megawatt (MW) facility and verified that the cooling, electrical and machinery systems functioned as designed.

Headquartered in Pleasanton, Nautilus develops data centers using its patented TRUE™ (Total Resource Usage Effectiveness) technology to avoid wasting water and energy. By using recirculated water from a nearby ocean, river or lake to cool the data center environment, the body of water becomes a heat sink. Therefore, the facility consumes no water, produces no wastewater and requires no refrigerants or water treatment chemicals, cooling towers or computer room air handlers.

The technology is energy-efficient, using less than one-third of the power that traditional computer room air-conditioning would use for cooling and has a low validated Power Utilization Effectiveness (PUE) for a commercial data center of its size. Plus, by siting the data center on a barge, Nautilus can reduce the facility footprint by up to 60 percent. This modular build design allows Nautilus to deploy additional facilities in the same area, using the same connectivity and much of the backbone infrastructure.

“We commend Nautilus’ forethought and innovation to efficiently operate data centers with minimal environmental impact,” says Katie Schultz, Director of Data Center Services at Black & Veatch. “In a time where water scarcity is an issue in many areas and energy costs continue to rise, it was exciting to use our skills and experience to help launch this highly sustainable solution and continue to impact the growth of critical infrastructure.”

During commissioning of the first of four data halls, the IT equipment load was observed at 1.45MW. At this load, the room temperature remained consistent at 73 degrees. When power was switched to generator, the room remained cool and power to IT was continuous.

“Commissioning was the final step in bringing our vision of delivering an energy and cost-efficient data center to the market, says Rob Pfleging, President of Nautilus Data Technologies. “It was important for us to know our equipment functions as intended. Black & Veatch worked diligently and efficiently to give us the confidence we needed to move forward and begin accepting new tenants who value energy efficiency, sustainability and scalability.”

Black & Veatch’s Data Center Commissioning services is only one piece of a larger set of data center solutions, and is complemented by a full suite end-to-end solutions that cover the entire life cycle of data center deployment, from program management, planning, site selection and due diligence through architecture and engineering to construction.