Google Prepares To Build 15th Global Data Centre

Google has set out plans to build a new data centre in the US state of Tennessee, a data centre that will be Google’s 15th globally, and its eighth data centre in the US.

Built on a former Hemlock Semiconductor site, the data centre in America’s eastern region is set to cost up to $600 million.

State governor Bill Haslam seemed rather chirpy with the news of bringing Google’s Internet prowess to Clarksville.

Grateful

“We are grateful for Google’s significant investment in Tennessee and the new jobs that will be created in Montgomery County,” Haslam said.

“This is one of the world’s most well-known brands, so it says a lot for our state that it will soon be home to Google’s eighth US data centre. We welcome Google to Tennessee and look forward to building a strong partnership with the company in the years to come.”

Google claims that the new data centre will use 100 percent renewable energy, thanks to a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

It was July when Google said it will build a massive data centre on the site of a coal power plant in Jackson County, Alabama.

The Widows Creek coal station is set to be shut down imminently, with Google planning to splash $600m to redevelop the site into its fourteenth major data centre.

“Data centres need a lot of infrastructure to run 24/7, and there’s a lot of potential in redeveloping large industrial sites like former coal power plants,” said Patrick Gammons, Google’s senior manager of data center energy.

“Decades of investment shouldn’t go to waste just because a site has closed; we can repurpose existing electric and other infrastructure to make sure our data centres are reliably serving our users around the world.”

Google, much like cloud rival Amazon, said that it has the ultimate goal of one day powering its cloud facilities with 100 percent renewable energy. Google said that it will be using Widows Creek’s existing power lines to bring in renewable energy to the site, in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Google claims that it is the world’s largest corporate renewable energy purchaser. Earlier in December, Google bought 842 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to power its global data centre operations, claiming that it is now one step closer to its commitment to triple its purchases of renewable energy by 2025.

The renewable energy capacity, consisting of both solar and wind power, has been purchased from Sweden, Chile, and the United States.

Google said the purchase of renewable energy capacity was the largest and most diverse purchase of renewable energy ever made by a non-utility company.

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