Google is planning additional investments in its data center in northern Europe—Finland.
On the 20th, Google announced plans to invest an additional 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in expanding its data center campus in Finland to bolster the growth of its AI business in Europe.
In recent years, many data centers have been located in Northern European countries due to their cool climates, tax reductions, and abundant renewable power.
However, Nordic countries like Sweden and Norway are increasingly pessimistic about attracting data centers, arguing that they should use renewable power for products like green steel that can leave a higher surplus value in their countries.
On the other hand, Finland’s wind power capacity has increased dramatically in recent years, with a 75% increase to 5677 megawatts (MW) in 2022 alone; as revealed by industry statistics, when the wind blows, prices plummet.
Therefore, renewable capacity that can be used by data centers like Google, which has acquired Finland’s wind power through long-term contracts, still exists.
Analysts predict a massive increase in power consumption by data centers due to the rapid growth in AI usage.
This is one of the reasons Google mentioned in its investment decision, and it’s also because Finland’s Hamina data center is already using 97% carbon-neutral energy.
Google announced that the heat from the Finland data center would be redirected into Hamina’s local heating network, benefiting homes, schools, and public service buildings. The company also expressed its goal to reach net-zero emissions across all operations and value chains by 2030.
In addition to its investment in Finland, Google announced last month that it would build new data centers in the Netherlands and Belgium.
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