Shanghai Unveils The World’s First Wind-Computing Synergy Project To Enhance Green Energy Use

The global surge in AI adoption is driving an increased demand for computing power, which in turn is raising electricity consumption. This trend presents a challenge for the computing and power sectors to find ways to boost green energy usage while reducing costs. At the Shanghai Lingang International Data Port, a pioneering project combining land-based data with sea-based computing and wind-computing synergy is underway.

China has successfully implemented its "East Data, West Computing" initiative. According to an SMG report, large wind turbines located about 10 kilometres offshore from Shanghai Lingang convert sea winds into electricity. Starting on 20th September, a unique four-story facility will be placed on the seabed beneath this wind farm.

In June, Lingang signed an agreement with Shanghai HiCloud to implement a model that transfers data generated on land to offshore facilities for processing. This system uses seawater for natural cooling, reducing energy consumption. Previously, only Microsoft's Project Natick had tested such a challenging concept back in 2015.

HiCloud has positioned itself at Lingang International Data Port to execute the world's first project of direct offshore wind power supply with natural seawater cooling. The initiative involves a total investment of 1.6 billion yuan (around USD 222 million), aiming for a total capacity of 24 megawatts and a Phase I demonstration capacity of 2.3 megawatts. Over 90% of the power supply will come from green sources.

On July 8th, China Telecom Lingang Computing Power Park responded to a virtual power plant dispatch order by transferring ongoing AI computing tasks to a data centre in Shiyan, Hubei—over 1,000 kilometres away—in just three minutes. The single-machine load of the computing equipment dropped by 75% simultaneously.

This marks China's first-ever "cross-province computing power transfer," showcasing the feasibility of real-time "East Data, West Computing" operations without noticeable delays. This achievement moves "computing-electricity coordination" from theory into practice.

Future Prospects and Industry Standards

The Lingang Computing Power Park has also developed a "10,000-GPU Liquid-Cooled AI Computing Pool" to enhance cooling efficiency for large-scale AI systems. Moving forward, it plans to further integrate computing power and electricity data to make coordinated operations standard practice.

Industry experts are advocating for the early release of relevant technical standards to establish viable business models and facilitate the creation of a national computing power exchange.

With inputs from WAM