The two other data centers would be considerably larger, at 20,000 and 30,000 square meters. There are no concrete plans or timelines for their construction yet. The new data center would become Google's sixth in Belgium. Since 2005, the company has had a significant presence in Belgium, especially in Saint-Ghislain, where it currently operates five Google data centers.
The American search giant bought 51 hectares of land near Charleroi in 2021. The plot is located in the Ecopole business park in Farciennes, east of Charleroi and on the banks of the Sambre. According to tech website ITDaily, the new data center would use solar panels, batteries for energy storage and a water-use strategy in which water from the Sambre could be pumped up for server cooling. Google reportedly has access to 200 to 300 MW of capacity through the power grid. It is not yet known when construction will begin.
Last year it became known that Google had also bought 36 hectares of land in La Louviere, a municipality in the province of Hainaut. The American company has not yet announced what it plans to do with that land.
