Yokohama to Test Out Renewable-Powered Offshore Floating Data Center

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, February 26, 2026

An offshore data center on a floating quay will be tested from March by the Yokohama city government in collaboration with four private companies. City officials said it would be the first such initiative in Japan.

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), NTT Facilities, Inc., Eurus Energy Holdings Corp. and MUFG Bank, Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the data center with the city in March last year.

The data center will be placed on a floating quay 25 meters wide and 80 meters long. It is located at Osanbashi Pier in the city’s Naka Ward and is also designed to be used as a temporary base during a disaster.

The floating quay has a solar-powered generator with a 44-kilowatt output and a battery storage system with an 80-kilowatt output that can generate 358 kWh. Renewable energy will power the container-type data center.

The data center will support data processing and storage for the four companies. The city and other entities will spend about a year verifying each piece of equipment’s resistance to salt damage and how stably the parts can operate.

Behind the latest trial test is an explosive increase in demand for data centers, resulting from the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence and the digital transformation of society.

But the rapidly increasing demand for data centers poses some challenges, such as electricity, securing enough land and decarbonization efforts. A data center floating on the sea, which operates on renewable energy, is drawing interest as one option to resolve such problems.

This initiative by the city and the businesses received the internal affairs and communications minister’s award at the Japan Open Innovation Prize organized by the Cabinet Office this month.

Judges highly valued the project for its high social significance of simultaneously advancing decarbonization efforts and responding to the rapidly growing demand for data centers.

“As a port city, we will continue to help realize a green society,” said Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka at a news conference on Feb. 13.