Google said it will invest nearly $700 million in a new data center in Fredericia, Denmark, while also locking in renewable electricity for the project through a power purchase agreement.
The company said the site will cost 4.5 billion Danish crowns, or about $689 million, and is expected to employ 150 to 200 people when it is completed in 2021. Google also said it is assessing additional onshore and offshore wind and solar projects in Denmark.
The move comes as the Nordic region continues to draw power-hungry technology firms that want access to low-cost electricity from wind and hydropower. A study published by the Nordic Council of Ministers on Tuesday said annual investment in Nordic data centers could more than double to above 4 billion euros, or $4.57 billion, by 2025.
Google’s latest step follows a September deal in which it agreed to buy renewable energy from three new wind farms in Finland for one of its data centers. The company has also been expanding its footprint in Denmark: it bought another plot in Aabenraa last year, next to a planned Apple Inc data center.
Corporate power purchase agreements have become a key tool for large companies trying to cut costs and reduce emissions. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, new corporate PPAs reached a record last year, with more than 5 gigawatts contracted, up almost a third from 2016.
Denmark is trying to position itself against the better-known FLAP-D markets — Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin — even though the Nordics are still seen as less connected. The Council of Ministers study said the region could gain market share because of its renewable energy base, political stability and planned fiber optic links to North America and Asia.
Google’s Danish expansion also places it in a country already home to major wind energy players such as Vestas Wind Systems and offshore wind developer Orsted. Facebook has also planned a data center in Denmark.
Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Teis Jensen; editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Louise Heavens and Adrian Croft.
