Seattle — Google Inc. plans to spend $600 million to build a data center in western Iowa, the latest site in a massive network of server farms holding hundreds of thousands of computers which run its Web services, Gov. Chet Culver announced Tuesday.
The online search leader has already begun construction on a 55-acre site in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb.
Google plans to start operations by spring of 2009, Iowa Governor Chet Culver announced in a news release.
“Google’s decision to make Iowa the home of their newest server farm will have a tremendous impact on Council Bluffs, western Iowa and our entire state,” Culver said.
The data center, also generally known as server farm, is expected to create about 200 jobs with an average salary of about $50 thousand.
Culver welcomed the additional, well-paying jobs and said the data center would help Iowa modernize its 21st century economy. “These jobs will no doubt attract some of the smartest and brightest to our state, and keep our talented young people at home,” he said.
The center, which will be part of Google’s worldwide network of such sites, is expected to open in the spring of 2009 at the Council Bluffs Industrial Foundation’s new business park. It will house computers that run the search engine’s services.
Workers there will include software and data center technicians as well as maintenance and other facilities support, whose responsibility will be to keep the facility running 24 hours a day.
Google declined to offer specific details about its network of data centers, but said it has “dozens” of facilities around the world, including recently announced projects in Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Data centers, also known as server farms, are nondescript buildings filled with row upon row of computer servers, data storage and network systems. They provide the infrastructure to power a variety of Web services, ranging from online video to hosted e-mail to Internet search.
The western Iowa facility, which sits on nearly 1,200 acres of land, with plenty of room for expansion according to state economic development officials, Google has said it is particularly interested in the central region of the United States because it is a crossroads for Internet activity.
In an effort aimed at attracting Google, Iowa lawmakers last session passed a bill that would exempt electricity and capital investment requirements from sales tax for computer-related businesses.
Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, who helped push the measure through the Legislature, said it was exciting to see Iowa attract a cutting-edge company that could bring similar businesses to the state.
“I really think that this is just the start of these server-type businesses, and Google’s decision to come to Iowa is probably going to lead to other server companies coming to Iowa,” he said.
Google will get a property tax break through 2024, but will end up paying about $65 million in property taxes over the next 15 years.
State economic development officials said that is the equivalent of the property tax collected annually from 3,771 homeowners based on numbers from 2000.
Google also will pay an estimated $6 million in sales taxes over the next couple of years as it purchases building materials, and will spend hundreds of thousands on electricity franchise fees.
Google said it is trying to use local vendors and suppliers whenever possible, spreading the economic impact of the new center throughout the western Iowa community.
Google and other Web heavyweights like Microsoft Corp. are capitalizing on the declining cost of computing power and data storage to build enormous data centers in areas with cheap electricity. These companies see data centers as a competitive way to differentiate from smaller Internet service providers that cannot afford to make the heavy up-front investments in infrastructure.
Part of what drew Google to the area was a $1.2 billion addition to a nearby MidAmerican Energy Co. electric-generating station.
MidAmerican Energy Co., which will supply the electricity to the facility, would not say how much electricity the data center will consume, citing a confidentiality agreement with Google. The energy company recently completed the expansion of its coal-fired plant in Council Bluffs, which can produce over 1,300 megawatts.
Todd Raba, president of MidAmerican, said the improved station and its overall reliability were important considerations for Google.
“Power reliability to a data center is a big deal,” he said, adding that Google will have intensive energy needs. “Relative to the tech-part of the world, they are a significant user.”
“We look forward to joining the community and are grateful for the support from the state and local governments throughout our evaluation process,” Paul Froutan, director of operations for Google said in a statement.
Bob Mundt, president and CEO of the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that the community has been hoping to attract new businesses.
“I think it demonstrates that all the hard work the community has put in to make Council Bluffs an attractive place for business has paid off,” he said.
Separately, Google told a news conference in Paris that the Mountain View, California-based company aims to cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year. It is the latest in a string of corporations seeking to cutback emissions gases that scientists link to global warming.