This new development near Muhos, a small town with fewer than 9,000 residents, isn’t the first for Google in Finland. It already has a facility up and running in Hamina, in the south, but hopes to expand in Muhos, Kajaani, and Vaala, in the north. Overall, it is a massive expansion project, and part of a 13-billion-euro ($15-billion) investment in Finland over the next two years. Finland’s potential data center appeal has also made it a location of choice for Microsoft and TikTok.
While the local mayor looks forward to the massive investment, growth of business, and general economic boom for the region, residents are waking up to the experience of others where data centers have sprung up. Concerns about impacts on the environment, energy supply stability, and energy prices are simmering under the surface.
Google seems to have trampled on some of these concerns already, with these reports of trees already felled and excavators clearing the ground before government agency approval. Not a good start.
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"In our view, operations at this construction site should be suspended until it is clarified whether the project is in compliance with the law," Hanna Halmeenpaa, chair of the board of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, told AFP at the edge of the freshly deforested area near Muhos. Even some nature preservation areas have been logged, reckons the chair. Halmeenpaa was responsible for filing the suspension request with the conservation agency.
Google denies prematurely devastating the forest. It told AFP that tree felling had been "in compliance with Forestry Act requirements." Moreover, its Finland comms manager said, in a contrasting statement to that of Halmeenpaa, that Google has been ensuring "high-value nature zones within the sites have been protected during forestry works."
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/google-ai-data-center-project-investigated-after-420-football-fields-of-finnish-forest-razed-trees-were-removed-before-a-mandatory-environmental-impact-assessment-say-reports#main
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