Facebook isn’t the only one coming to Sweet Home Alabama. In 2015, Google announced their plan to construct a $600 million data center in Jackson County, Alabama.
Six years later, that plan is now becoming a reality. Google began construction for their data center in April of 2018, and they hope to complete it in the coming year.
Formally announced in 2015, Google’s Alabama Data Center was always an ambitious project. It totals $600 million in construction costs, and it is expected to create 75 to 100 highly technical jobs in the Jackson County area. The entire data center will be spread across 360 acres of land adjacent to the now-defunct Widows Creek coal-fired power plant.
Yet, the data center seeks to set itself apart from the coal power plant. According to Google, the center will feature state-of-the-art energy efficiency technology. It will rely on sustainable, renewable energies that will power the center as well as the surrounding community.
Said Gary Demasi, director of Global Infrastructure at Google: “For more than 50 years, the Widows Creek plant has generated electricity for the region. Now the site will be used to bring Internet services and information to people around the world – powered by 100 percent renewable energy. We see a lot of potential in redeveloping large industrial sites like former coal plants, and we’re excited to bring the data center to Alabama.”
The Google Data Center will be the fourteenth to exist globally, and the eighth in the U.S.
At Construction Protection Systems, we’re proud to have had the opportunity to play a small part in the construction of Google’s Data Center. Stay tuned for more updates from the innovators of 1-2-3 Door Shield—the original, reusable door protection system.