Google has chosen Belgium to install a potential new data center: why?
Google has acquired 36 hectares of land in Ecaussinnes, in the Feluy zoning, near La Louvière (in the province of Hainaut), for a potential new data center, announced Friday the American internet giant, which is celebrating its 15 years of presence in Belgium.
This acquisition aims to keep the options open to expand Google’s presence in Belgium with a data center, depending on the needs of users and customers, specifies the American company. The site is owned by Idea, the local land development agency, which partners with the company to set up basic infrastructure if it decides to move forward.
An essential part of the European infrastructure
Google already has a data center in Ghlin (Saint-Ghislain), near Mons, announced in 2007 and operational since 2010. The site currently employs some 400 people. It was then the first data center outside the United States. The company then announced last year that it had acquired land in Farciennes, near Charleroi, for another possible future data center. Nothing has changed since and no construction decision has yet been taken, says Michiel Sallaets, spokesperson for the Belgian subsidiary of Google.
“Belgium is an essential part of Google’s European infrastructure”, also underlines the company, which, since 2007, says it has invested nearly 3 billion euros in the installations of data centers in the country. This money makes it possible to create an average of 2,800 local jobs per year and to support an activity with an economic impact of 2.7 billion euros for the Belgian GDP.
A positive impact on attractiveness
“This new investment confirms our position as a digital pioneer”, welcomed Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, present Friday at the Ghlin data center for the occasion. “For years, Belgium has played a leading role in Europe when it comes to developing the digital economy. Our central position, our know-how and our talents are all assets for players for Google, but also for all the innovative start-ups that are born every day in our country.”
“Never has digital innovation been more important than in the post-covid era”he insisted. “International events allow us, every day, how crucial it is for Belgium and for Europe to have its own infrastructures and its own economic and technological levers.” For Jacques Gobert, the president of the intermunicipal company Idea, this investment could have a positive impact on the attractiveness of the local community and the creation of long-term jobs.
Google has a place in our daily lives
“Google’s presence strengthened the territory’s digital ecosystem by attracting innovative companies with high technological value. A positive outlook for the Heart of Hainaut”, he rejoices. In recent years, Google has also invested several million euros in Belgium in offshore solar and wind energy as well as in energy storage capacities in Belgium. In December 2020, it announced a pilot battery project on the Saint-Ghislain site to replace the generators.
In the event of a power outage, the system will maintain users’ searches, emails and videos, without the emissions associated with diesel-powered backup generators. So many investments that aim to operate permanently with carbon-free energy in the country by 2030.
“With billions of searches per month worldwide, Google has a place in our daily lives. When such a large company then goes green by investing in solar and wind power, it has an impact. Therefore, I can only applaud Google’s continued investment in our country, playing the sustainability card“, commented, for her part, by the Minister of Telecommunications Petra De Sutter, also presented to Ghlin on Friday.