Google has announced it will invest in the expansion of its cloud data centres and renewable energy facilities in Germany. The move has been presented as marking a further step towards Germany’s digital sovereignty.
The internet giant announced it will invest around €1 billion to expand the data centres that support its cloud computing services, the largest investment package the US giant has put together in Germany in over 20 years.
Although the Big Tech company anticipates green energy will be used to support the expansion of energy-intensive data infrastructure, critics see this as a missed opportunity for more ambition in the field of renewable energies.
“When we think of the big issues of the future that will shape Germany, it’s digitalisation on the one hand, and sustainability on the other,” Philipp Justus, vice president of Google Central Europe, said. “This will shape the future with Germany and for Germany.”
Two new cloud data centres are planned in Hesse and near Berlin to reduce data traffic latencies and provide German and European customers with a better cloud infrastructure.
On top of that, a significant part of the investment is going into the expansion of renewable energies, for which a partnership with the German company Engie has been announced. By 2030, the data centres are to be supplied only with electricity from renewable energies.
