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Special Report: Google, Yahoo And Microsoft Build Massive Data Centres In North West USA The size of two football fields, Google’s new data centres are being built on the banks of the Colombia River, Oregon. Microsoft and Yahoo have announced that they are building large data centres further upstream in Wenatchee and Quincy, Washington State, 130 miles to the north. The new Google centres, part of its global network – known as “Googleplex” – will have twin cooling plants and be able to take advantage of the region's large surplus of fibre optic networking, a legacy of the dot-com boom. Google’s other key centres are in Ireland and Atlanta, connected by a high capacity fibre optic link. Reports from the US – and not confirmed – suggest that Google now has more than 450,000 servers spread over at least 25 locations around the world. Microsoft’s data centre, occupying a 75-acre site is scheduled to be operational by early 2007. The company is also reportedly evaluating a site in San Antonio for a new USD600m data centre facility. A key draw of the north western area for all three players is the availability of cheap hydroelectric power, due to the proximity of the Colombia River. Three publicly owned, local utilities own five large dams on the river, and they produce more electricity than the local population can use. Until recently, they have been obligated under 50-year-old contracts to sell around two-thirds of their power, without profit, to major utilities serving Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. As a result, electricity prices in the Northwest have been far below the national average. The scale and requirement for energy used by data centres once characterised large industrial complexes. Electricity consumption at large data centres in the US has doubled over the past four years and is expected to triple over the next five.
Have you also seen our other consultant articles? Too Much
Greenwash?
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