In 2018, Google announced the construction of a third data center to be operational by the end of this year, as well as the construction of a new solar power plant in Saint-Ghislain. According to Google, the fourth data center should be built by the end of 2021.
The first Google data center in Europe was established in 2009 in Saint-Ghislain. It was the first Google data center in the world to operate without the traditional method of cooling its computer systems. Cooling is provided by the water evaporation mechanism when the company drains waste water from an industrial channel near the site and thereby reduces overall energy consumption.
