I am not real happy about the idea of prisons that pay for themselves, much less produce a profit.
I used to think that was a great idea... until they "privatized" incarceration facilities in my area, and I have seen what the profit motive has done not just to the management of "correctional facilities" and the people in them, but even to the legal system itself.
Prisons SHOULD be a societal cost. Anything else produces too much incentive for abuse. I have seen it.

If I understand this correctly, its just an energy storage device and does not create energy. Using excess energy (I assume at off-peak) from the mainland, and storing it as potential energy with the water at altitude, then letting gravity take it down through the turbines during peak is energy storage.

The futuristic design and green credentials of this facility, with its proposed "benefit" to the land population smacks of privately funded military prison in international waters.

re; Chris Walker
I believe it taps wave energy.
It idea is sound enough but the design needs to be redone by somebody that has a clue about practicality.

With any benefit being offset by the cost of transporting prison staff back and forth every day.... Silly idea is silly.

I agree with Anne Ominous on this one. If we take an economic rationalist view of prisons and criminality, and I don't think it unreasonable to do so, it would be better to leave prisons as a cost centre. If we as a society make profit from prisons and criminals then we as a society are encouraged to create prisons and criminals. If they are a cost then we are encouraged to reduce prisons and criminals. If there is greater profit to be made in addressing the core issues behind criminal behaviour than in simply locking people away I think we'll pursue those core issues. eg: poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity (or perceived lack), discrimination and lack of social support systems. I'd hate to see a world where someone is eagerly rubbing their hands at the thought of imprisoning more people or even encouraging laws to criminalise more behaviour. Why not have an off-shore energy (and thus profit) producing school? Or a green factory or hospital?

Well-put everyone :) Hopefully government officials/private backers think just as clearly before they jump all over this idea. doubtful but one lives in hope

This project reflects the psychology of observation, models of urban surveillance and the Panoptican, we never know when or how we are being observed and this is a very important design criteria in either context. The design is striking, an interesting typology and pushing the boundaries of cross-disciplines in design. I find it veyr interesting.

This conflates the ideas of prison and energy generation. I don't see any substantial link between them. You might as well describe installing solar panels at an onshore prison. Am I missing something?

When I first came across the term 'pumped' in the HydroElectric Pumped Storage Power Plant at Kadamparai in Tamilnadu, India, I thought it was a spelling mistake or grammatical error. The principle of this HydroElectric Plant is similar to that of the Offshore Floating Prison, generating power for consumption when required and pumping water upward into the reservoir when demand is low.