Google invests $1.14 billion in Hamina data centre in Finland

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• Google has announced an additional investment of $1.14 billion in its Finnish data centre to promote AI advancement.
• In the Nordic countries, a plethora of data centres have been established in recent years, thanks to various positive factors such as the region’s cool climate, tax incentives, and abundant renewable energy.
• Google has announced plans to build new data centres in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Expansion of data centre

Google has announced plans to invest in expanding its data centre campus in Finland on this day to drive growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector in Europe.

In a statement, Google said, “The heat generated at the Finnish data centre will be rerouted into the local district heating network in Hamina, including nearby homes, schools, and public service buildings,” adding, “The goal is to achieve net-zero emissions across all operations and value chains by 2030.”

The company clarified that this plan aims to provide benefits to homes, schools, and public service buildings by supplying heat to the Hamina district heating network at no cost, rather than generating revenue.

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Environmentally friendly goal

Located on the southern coast of Indonesia, Hamina is considered a vital area for Google’s goal of powering all offices and data centres with renewable energy due to its abundant renewable power resources.

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Ben Townend, Google’s Global Head of Infrastructure Strategy and Sustainability, elaborated, “It will provide opportunities for selecting new sites that can more easily implement waste heat recovery and local heating.”

Meanwhile, Google has previously announced plans to build new data centres in the Netherlands and Belgium.