Extra investment of 500 million euro for data center expansion in Eemshaven

The establishment of Google’s data center in Eemshaven has yielded a positive contribution to the Dutch GDP EUR 800 million since 2014, according to a study that was conducted by Copenhagen Economics. Google’s total investment in the region until now amounts to 950 million euros. On average, the establishment of the data center in the region has created 2,200 jobs in the period 2014-2017, mainly related to the construction. Google has also today that it will expand the data center. Google will invest 500 million euro for this investment, bringing the total investment to almost 1,5 billion euro.

Impact on local community
The Google data center allows services like Gmail, Maps and YouTube to run. But it also provides additional benefits to the local community. It creates jobs in this area in fields such as IT, electronics and mechanics, catering and security. It may also encourage other companies to invest in the region, because of the presence of skills, suppliers and other means that investors are looking for. Multinationals additionally have technical, operational and management expertise that can improve the productivity of local suppliers by knowledge spillovers and market-size effects. Google also supports local community initiatives, including cooperation with local educational institutions and investing in nature projects. A new round of applications for financial support for local projects was launched today.

Minister Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate: “The expansion of Google’s data centre shows that Groningen has a lot to offer international technology companies, such as sufficient renewable energy, well-trained staff and excellent ICT connections. Google has shown that it can also offer Groningen a lot, such as employment, income for local suppliers, investments in nature projects and a coding program for young people. The construction of this data center also makes the region more attractive for other international technology companies. This is, in short, a collaboration that everyone benefits from here in the Province of Groningen.”

Pim van der Feltz, Director of Google Netherlands: “Google has chosen the Eemshaven location for several reasons, including the excellent infrastructure, high-speed fiber connections and availability RES. But equally important is the support of the local community and we are grateful to the local and regional government and local suppliers and people from the area for this. We are happy that we can contribute to the community, not only by creating jobs but also by investing in local projects. With the announced expansion of our data center and the investment associated therewith we reaffirm our commitment to the region.”

Investment of 500 million for expansion of the data center
Every day the demand for Google services increases and our infrastructure of data centers follows the same rhythm. To meet this growing demand from consumers and businesses the Google data center in Eemshaven will expand in the coming years. The additional investment required for this expansion is EUR 500 million.

Google’s location in Eemshaven

Facts and Figures

• The Google data center in Eemshaven opened in 2016.
• The site of the data center itself currently employs about 250 people, including IT specialists, engineers, security guards, catering staff and facility managers.
• The average of 2200 jobs in the period 2014-2017 relates to people working in the data center itself, but also to jobs in the construction of the datacenter and infrastructure (direct), job creation at suppliers in the value chain (indirect) and job creation through consumption by this group in the local community (induced).
• Around the data center, Google supports six local community projects: Coding with Google in collaboration with Hanze University, the bees app Unofficial App, a bee and butterfly sanctuary in Uithuizen, vlog courses for the elderly through SIBTv, the organization ANOG and Workgroup Montagu’s Harrier.
• Google is very committed to sustainability and environmental care. The company is CO2 neutral since 2007 and since 2017, Google uses 100% renewable energy for all its activities.This means that Google now has adequate electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to cover the entire power consumption. Google is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.
• The data center in Eemshaven was Google’s first data center worldwide that was provided with 100% renewable energy from day one.
• In the Netherlands, Google has purchase agreements with wind farms in Delfzijl and Zeeland (Krammer and Bouwdokken) and a solar energy park in Delfzijl Sunport for the purchase of renewable energy for the data center.