Proposed Floating 'Kraaken' Ship Would Power 32,000 Homes and Host an AI Data Center

Marine engineering firm InMar Technologies and energy developer OptiFuel Systems have proposed a self-propelled floating platform called the Blue Economy VITAL 100 MW Kraaken, under a partnership the two call Optimal Transit. The concept would combine an offshore power plant, a desalination system and an AI-focused data center on one ship that could sail away when needed.

According to Optimal Transit, an onboard plant would generate up to 40 MW of continuous electricity for delivery ashore, enough to power roughly 32,000 homes around the clock. A separate system would produce 30 million liters (7.9 million gallons) of fresh water daily, enough for an estimated 150,000 people, and the vessel would keep 60 MW of capacity for AI-grade data-center computing. Optimal Transit says the platform would need no land, no grid connection and no conventional fuel.

The proposed power source is Optimal Transit's patented Digital Ocean Thermal engine, a modified form of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) — a technology that uses the temperature difference between warm surface seawater and much colder water hundreds of meters down. Warm water would heat a low-boiling-point fluid such as ammonia until it vaporizes; the vapor would drive a turbine to generate electricity, and cold deep seawater would condense the ammonia back into liquid to restart the cycle. Kraaken's design adds a second heat source, reusing waste heat from its own onboard servers to further heat the ammonia.

The same warm-and-cold seawater system would also supply fresh water through vacuum-flash desalination, boiling warm seawater at low pressure and condensing the resulting vapor with the cold-water stream. The proposed 100 MW Kraaken would use a twin-hull design and measure about 300 feet (91 meters) long.

Power, water and data would reach shore through a quick-disconnect umbilical system that, according to Optimal Transit, would let the vessel detach from its mooring within hours and move away under its own propulsion if a major storm approached.