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Alphabet-owned Google announced plans to invest an additional €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to expand its data center campus in Finland.
This significant investment aims to drive the growth of its artificial intelligence (AI) business across Europe, highlighting the tech giant’s commitment to enhancing its AI capabilities.
Nordic Region’s Advantages for Data Centres:
The Nordic countries have become prime locations for data centers due to their cooler climate, tax incentives, and abundant renewable energy sources.
Unlike its neighbors, Sweden and Norway, which have begun to criticize the extensive use of renewable power for data centers, Finland continues to offer a favorable environment.
Finland’s rapidly increasing wind power capacity, which grew by 75% to 5,677 megawatts in 2022, has led to negative energy prices on particularly windy days, ensuring ample renewable energy for such large-scale operations.
Addressing Growing Energy Demands of AI:
Analysts predict a massive increase in data centers’ power consumption due to the rapid expansion of AI applications.
This trend and the fact that its Hamina data center already operates with 97% carbon-free energy influences Google’s investment decision. The tech giant has committed to achieving net zero emissions across all operations and its value chain by 2030.
Sustainable Practices and Community Benefits:
Google’s Finnish data center not only focuses on sustainable energy use but also contributes to the local community.
The company plans to reroute excess heat from the data center to Hamina’s district heating network, providing warmth to local households, schools, and public service buildings.
This initiative underscores Google’s efforts to integrate its operations with community welfare and environmental sustainability.
Expansion Beyond Finland:
In addition to the Finnish investment, Google announced its plans to build new data centers in the Netherlands and Belgium last month.
These expansions are part of Google’s broader strategy to support its cloud services and AI infrastructure across Europe, ensuring robust and scalable operations to meet the growing demands of these technologies.
