Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) expands its data center footprint in Europe and invested $3.3 billion. It gives thrust to build eco-friendly data centers. The latest investment is apart from $7 billion investment from 2007 onwards in Europe. New data centers would operate on clean energy.
Operates on Carbon-free fuels
Sunder Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet, said the new data centers would use carbon-free energy for their operation. He is Finland discussing with Antti Rinne, Prime Minister, on ensuring carbon-free future and building a sustainable economy. The company will spend Euro 600 million of the proposed $3.3 billion for enhancing its footprint in Hamina, Finland. It plans to make the data center in Hamina as a model for energy efficiency and sustainability among all the data centers. The total investments in Finland are around Euro 2 billion since 2009. It would create 4,300 jobs in Finland in the next two years.
Alphabet announces renewable energy deals
Alphabet has announced 18 renewable energy deals for an overall 1,600 Megawatts in Europe, the US, and Africa. The company would unveil ten renewable energy projects in Europe to account for half of the Megawatts. It would construct new energy infrastructure in the EU using these agreements and spending over Euro 1 billion. The new projects include the construction of 5 solar energy plants in Denmark and offshore wind projects in Belgium. It also comprises the building of two wind energy-based projects in Sweden.
The commitment to build two energy projects using wind energy in Finland would double the renewable energy in the nation. It would suffice the energy consumption for the data centers in Finland. The announcement from Alphabet coincides with Global Climate Strike Day. Alphabet answers the climate crisis through building projects that run on renewable energy sources.
Alphabet invest in new skills training
Alphabet also invests in training the youth in new skills to handle the jobs at these data centers. Around 5 million people in Europe already received training that includes critical digital skills freely from Alphabet. In Helsinki, it has recently inaugurated a Google skills hub. According to the blog post, the data centers expansion in Europe would equip the workforce in the next two years to support the new digital economy.
