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en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 9, Google announced plans to invest at least €13 billion in Finland between 2027 and 2028 to build data centers and other supporting digital infrastructure, with projects spanning Hamina, Kajaani, Muonio, and Vaala. This marks Google's largest single investment in Europe to date. During the construction phase, the projects are expected to contribute an average of €3.6 billion annually to Finland's GDP and support more than 37,000 jobs nationwide, approximately 16,000 of which will come from the construction sector. Once the facilities become operational, they are expected to support around 7,000 jobs annually.

This investment covers the area of the existing Hamina data center campus as well as new infrastructure sites in north-central Finland. Google has partnered with Fingrid, Finland's national grid operator, and Business Finland on site planning, with a focus on deploying new data centers in north-central Finland in areas with access to low-carbon power sources and existing transmission infrastructure. A grid modeling study commissioned by Google shows that if a hypothetical 1 GW of new electricity load were deployed in the Oulu–Kajaani region rather than in southern Finland, it could reduce power system costs by approximately €520 million over a 20-year period.

Alongside the data center construction, Google has signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Finnish energy company Fortum for the life extension of the Loviisa nuclear power plant, providing a long-term revenue arrangement to support subsequent life-extension investments at the plant. Both units of the Loviisa nuclear power plant have a net electrical output of 507 MW each, and the Finnish government has extended their operating licenses until the end of 2050. Fortum plans to implement approximately €1 billion in life-extension investments by 2050, spanning 10 investment portfolios and more than 300 individual projects. Google and Fortum have also signed a memorandum of understanding to study new flexibility resources and generation capacity, and to evaluate business models for developing new nuclear units at the Loviisa site.

Google has also signed new onshore wind power purchase agreements with Valorem and Suomen Hyötytuuli, increasing the new grid-connected onshore wind capacity it supports in Finland to 629 MW. The company has additionally contracted the construction of a 94 MW battery energy storage system, located near the Kajaani project, scheduled to become operational by the end of 2027, and plans to enable its onshore wind assets to participate in Fingrid's ancillary services market.

Beyond infrastructure and energy projects, Google plans to invest €31 million over the next four years in Hamina, Kajaani, Muonio, and Vaala for education, community economic development, and related programs, of which €10 million will be dedicated to research, development, and innovation. The funding will also support AI skills training for more than 4,400 workers, as well as a data center job training program for 100 Finnish students.