Waiting for Google data centre in Upper Austria

The Upper Austrian municipality of Kronstorf is waiting for search engine giant Google to start building a data centre for which Google had bought 75 hectares of land three years ago.

National broadcaster ORF reported that the decision to build at Kronstorf was made by Google partly because the company wants to use only renewable energy, hence the location near the water powered plants at the river Enns. Moreover Google has already planted 13,000 trees on the acquired land.

The ORF report added that another reason for the location Kronstorf was the proximity to three international fibreglass lines. ORF reckons that the data centre will mainly supply Eastern Europe, Google has not revealed any details however.

Everything has been ready for three years now but no construction work has begun yet. Kronstorf’s Mayor Christian Kolarik said: “We have done some preparatory work commissioned by Google. We have also employed an English speaking kindergarten nanny.

“Google has triggered positive dynamics in Kronstorf so far but the time schedule is the investor’s business. We are in regular contact.”

Kay Oberbeck, regional Google press spokesperson told ORF in an email: “We still plan to build a data centre on the acquired land in Kronstorf. There are however no detailed plans yet and therefore no set date for the beginning of construction.”

See also Google search: ‘400mn Euro Austrian datacentre’ (http://austriantimes.at/news/Business/2008-05-29/6436/Google_search%3A_%B4400mn_Euro_Austrian_datacentre%B4_)