Google investing additional €450 mn in Finnish data centre

Google is putting an additional €450 million into its Finnish data centre.

The data centre, which uses seawater from the Bay of Finland for cooling, was opened in 2011 after the internet search company bought a facility in Hamina from a Finnish paper company.

Google spent €200 million to buy the property and convert it into a data centre, following it up with another €150 million on a subsequent project to restore its machine hall, which is due for completion early next year.

Bloomberg reported that the latest round of investment would be used to expand the capacity of the data centre to cope with growing demand from consumers for mobile video.

The facility headcount would rise from 90 to 125 as a result of the expansion, Bloomberg said today.

In a deal, the company signed earlier this year with a Swedish company, it agreed to buy the buy the entire output of a new 24-turbine wind farm in north Sweden.

The data centre would be powered by the output of the wind farm.

The Hamina facility, in the south of Finland, is one of three data centres the company runs in Europe, with the other two located in St Ghislain, Belgium and Dublin, Ireland.

Meanwhile, according to marketwatch.com the Finnish government plans to reduce the electricity tax rate for data centres and server farms, subject to approval from the EU authorities.

Welcoming Google's move, Finland's prime minister Jyrki Katainen said, Google's investment decision was important for the country and the country welcomed it, Market Watch reported.