Black & Veatch Completes Commissioning on World’s First Zero-Water Consumption Commercial Data Center

Digital modernization has led to an explosion in data, driving companies to increasingly seek out reliable, secure data centers that are both resource-efficient and sustainable. Black & Veatch, a global leader in data center engineering and construction, announces today that it has completed commissioning oversight for the world’s first zero water consumption commercial data center.

Nautilus Data Technologies (Nautilus) retained Black & Veatch to conduct a third-party due diligence report and commissioning oversight at its 7-megawatt (MW) Northern California data center, located in the Port of Stockton. Black & Veatch verified the cooling, electrical and machinery systems functioned as designed.

Nautilus develops data centers that use its patented TRUE™ (Total Resource Usage Effectiveness) technology to use recirculated water from a nearby ocean, river or lake to cool the data center environment. Utilizing a body of water as a heat sink, the facility consumes no water, produces no wastewater, and requires no refrigerants or water treatment chemicals, cooling towers or computer room air handlers.

“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 1.45 MW. 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 provides 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.

Editor’s Notes:

Black & Veatch’s Data Center team specializes in critical utility infrastructure and sustainable design, such as this Water Reuse Solution for a Data Center Hub.

About Black & Veatch

Black & Veatch is an employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people around the world by addressing the resilience and reliability of our most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2020 exceeded US$3.0 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media.

About Nautilus Data Technologies

Nautilus Data Technologies has created the world’s most environmentally innovative water-cooled data center design, setting a new standard for efficiency, sustainability and global scalability. Nautilus’ patented TRUE™ (“Total Resource Usage Effectiveness”) cooling system integrates proven maritime and industrial water-cooling technologies with next generation data center infrastructure to mark a new era of performance for the data center industry. TRUE™ reduces computing cost, cuts power use, eliminates water consumption, produces no wastewater, uses no harmful refrigerants, and lowers air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. TRUE™ further enables the widespread availability of high-performance computing for artificial intelligence, machine learning, healthcare, gaming, and other compute-intensive applications, accelerating the substantial economic, social and environmental benefits they provide. For more information, visit www.NautilusDT.com.