Riverway Group LLC, a project development and consulting firm based in Houston, and Offshore Data Center LLC, an energy and technology development company, have agreed to collaborate on developing offshore platforms that convert stranded natural gas into electricity for data centers located near offshore gas resources.
According to a press release, the project aims to give oil and gas producers an alternative conventional method to monetize gas reserves that are uneconomical. The platforms are designed to support data centers, ammonia and methanol production units, and conventional offshore production facilities.
The platforms will also feature closed loop deep ocean cooling systems to reduce the data center’s energy consumption by 40 percent.
Art J. Schroeder, Jr., CEO, Offshore Data Center, said, “By putting the data center next to the gas, we eliminate the pipeline to shore and the transmission line, and we cut the cooling bill dramatically. Riverway gives us a way to build these platforms here in the United States.”
The collaboration combines Offshore Data Center’s industry partnerships and the patented and proprietary semi submersible hull designs of HORTON DO BRASIL TECNOLOGIA OFFSHORE LTDA. with Riverway’s automated welding and advanced fabrication methods.
The collaboration is expected to support U.S. maritime manufacturing, domestic energy development and the expansion of the nation’s computing capacity. The resulting hulls could be 50 percent lighter than conventional designs while maintaining stability.