Google bought the land for a data center

Google has bought a plot of land from the municipality of Vaala in North Ostrobothnia, on which a data center can be built, if business needs require it, the municipality informs.

The new general zoning area is almost 900 hectares in size, of which the station zoning portion is about 380 hectares. Google does not say exactly how much of the zoned area it will buy.

Mayor of Vaala Minna Kärkkäinen tells HS that the project has been prepared for two years already. This kind of news is a very good thing for a small municipality, he praises.

Vaala has excellent electricity connections, which is why there is a lot of interest in the area on behalf of data center operators, Kärkkäinen says.

“You could say that we are even in the best possible place in Finland in terms of electricity.”

Before acquisition of the land and the initiation of zoning, Google conducted nature, environmental and terrain studies in the area. The studies included, among other things, a review of the 25 percent nature reserve reservation and the possibilities for utilizing waste heat.

Google has had data center operations in Finland in Hamina since 2011.

Correction 26.2. 11:20 a.m.: Contrary to what was written earlier in the article, Google is not buying the 900 hectares of land, but only a part of it. 900 hectares is the total area of ​​the area to be zoned.