Google LLC will spend 3 billion euros, or $3.3 billion, over the next two years to expand its European infrastructure footprint with new data centers.

The investment was announced this morning by Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai. In the blog post outlining the initiative, the CEO provided details on only one planned development: a 600 million-euro expansion to the company’s existing data center campus in Hamina, Finland.

Google LLC’s presence in the town dates back to 2009, when it moved a server farm into a facility that previously served as a paper mill (pictured). The company presently describes the data center as one of the most sophisticated in its entire network. Google keeps the hardware inside cool using seawater from the frosty Bay of Finland, which helps cut both electricity expenses and carbon emissions.

Reuters reported that the search giant intends to build a second data center on the same plot. The proximity to the original facility will enable Google to make use of the existing infrastructure it has built on the site and, by extension, give it access to plenty of seawater for cooling, which will be conducive to the company’s long-term goal of reducing its environmental impact.

The search giant has been getting all of its electricity from renewable sources since 2017. Yesterday, ahead of the data center announcement, Google took the commitment another up a notch by revealing that it has signed 18 green energy contracts representing 1,600 megawatts of power. The investment is hailed as the largest corporate purchase of renewable energy ever.

Nearly half of the projected 1,600-megawatt output will be generated in Europe. Google is funding two Finnish wind farms as well as eight renewable energy projects in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, where its other European cloud facilities are located. The fact that the search giant is procuring more electricity in those three countries hints that they too may be a focus in the $3.3 billion data center expansion Pichai announced today. 

Alphabet Inc.’s data centers and wind farms are only two segments of a vast global infrastructure empire. The company operates countless offices worldwide, undersea internet cables, a self-driving car test track on the site of a former U.S. Air Force base and a delivery drone depot in Australia, among  other facilities. 

Photo: Google