<i>Perhaps even more intriguing to some, Google has theorized about powering these ocean data centers with energy gained just from water splashing against the side of the barges.</i><p>This would probably just exactly generate enough power to run a few fans - in high wind that is.
I can see Google filing all these patents on wacky ideas that they never intend to build, just so Microsoft goes nuts saying "me too! me too!" and wastes money trying to implement what it thinks Google is doing.