Google CEO Sundar Pichai with the Finnish prime minister, Antti Rinne, at the press conference in the Government Palace in Helsinki, Finland on September 20, 2019. Picture: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today
Google will invest 600 million euros in the Hamina-based data center, located in the Kymenlaakso region, about 145 kilometers east of Helsinki. It will also invest in two wind power projects that will produce 250 megawatts of clean electricity.
The plans of the web search giant were announced on Friday at the press conference in Helsinki attended by Prime Minister Antti Rinne and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who’s visiting Finland.
“This is great news to Finland,” Rinne said at the press conference.
In total, Google has now invested two billion euros in the Google Hamina data center, which originally was an old paper mill owned by Finnish paper company Stora Enso. Google bought the mill in 2009 and has over the years expanded and turned it into one of the most advanced and efficient data centers in the Google fleet.
The center, for example, uses seawater from the Bay of Finland in its advanced cooling system. This reduces energy use significantly.
And now, according to Prime Minister Rinne, he was told that that with the wind power investments, the Finnish data center’s power needs will be met almost entirely by emissions-free electricity.
Great news for the climate, too!
