Google to Invest 1 Billion Euros in Finnish Data Center Expansion

TapTechNews May 21st news, Google yesterday announced plans to invest 1 billion euros (TapTechNews note: currently about 1.1 billion US dollars) to expand its data center campus located in Hamina, Finland.

Google will also build its first off-site heat recovery system at the data center to provide heating to the surrounding community.

Joe Kava, vice president of Google Data Centers, said:

Our continued investment in the Hamina data center demonstrates Finland's role as a digital leader and will help further unlock the potential of artificial intelligence in the Kymenlaakso region of Finland, throughout Finland, and across Europe.

Nina Kopola, director general of the Finnish National Business Promotion Agency, said:

With today's announcement, Google is solidifying its position as the largest overseas investor in Finland in the past decade.

Google has currently implemented waste heat recovery and reuse within the Hamina data center campus, and in the future, this campus will become a pioneer pilot for off-site heat recovery of Google data centers.

Google has reached an agreement with the local utility company, Haminan Energia, to sell the waste heat generated from the operation of the data center to heating enterprises at a symbolic price of 1 euro per year. This thermal energy is sufficient to meet 80% of the local annual heating demand.

Google claims that currently 97% of the power supply of its data center in Hamina comes from clean energy sources, so the thermal energy it provides to Haminan Energia will also mostly come from carbon-free energy sources.

Google's goal is to achieve net zero emissions in all its operations and value chains by 2030 and use clean energy around the clock to support the operation of data centers and offices.