An Alabama data center will be built by Google inside of what used to be the Widows Creek coal power plant. The coal power plant is scheduled for shutdown, so moving into it is a perfect fit for Google. The new center will reuse existing electrical infrastructure, as well as roads and other assets the property has. Plus, in light of Google's commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy, it is a symbolic gesture of the company's hopes that most organizations will move toward eco-friendly energy sources.
This is Google's seventh data center in the United States, and its 14th worldwide. The company estimates that the new center will bring between 75 and 100 high paying jobs to Jackson County, in northeast Alabama.
The project was partially inspired by the Alabama Jobs Act and the state's specialized data center incentives, both of which provide strong tax breaks to companies like Google. This will be Google's first new data center in the U.S. since 2007. In recent years, the company has primarily focused on deploying centers overseas in Singapore and Belgium.
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