Summary
- Google plans at least €13bn of Finnish data centre and supporting infrastructure investment during 2027 and 2028.
- Expansion covers Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala, alongside new wind procurement, battery storage, and grid-location work.
- The programme links new compute demand more directly with power-system planning, including nuclear generation and grid flexibility.
Google plans to invest at least €13 billion in data centre and supporting infrastructure in Finland during 2027 and 2028, combining a major expansion of computing capacity with new power, storage, and grid measures.
The programme covers Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala and represents Google’s largest single investment announced in Europe. The company has not disclosed an aggregate IT capacity figure for the programme, leaving the electrical scale of the new facilities unspecified, but the accompanying energy arrangements indicate that power availability and system integration are being treated as part of the development rather than as separate procurement exercises.
Google already operates a large data centre at Hamina, on Finland’s southern coast. Its newer development programme extends further north, with sites including Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala, where the company says existing grid infrastructure and proximity to low-carbon generation can support expansion with less pressure for additional transmission investment.
Google is working with transmission system operator Fingrid and Business Finland to identify locations where new infrastructure can connect in a way that better reflects the needs of the electricity system. The approach is significant because the expansion of AI and cloud capacity is increasingly forcing large data centre developers to consider not simply whether electricity is available, but where new load can be accommodated without worsening network constraints.
The investment package also includes a new 94MW battery system contracted by Google and planned next to its Kajaani site. The battery is expected to enter operation in late 2027 and participate in Finland’s electricity system as a source of flexibility, helping to balance periods when renewable output and demand do not align.
Google has also added power purchase agreements with wind developers Valorem and Suomen Hyötytuuli. The company says its new Finnish onshore wind agreements now support 629MW of new-to-grid capacity, while work is also under way to enable wind assets in its portfolio to participate in Fingrid’s ancillary-services markets.
The largest single power arrangement announced alongside the programme is a 22-year agreement with Fortum covering electricity from the Loviisa nuclear power plant. The agreement will eventually contract up to half of Loviisa’s capacity and is intended to give Fortum greater revenue certainty as it continues an approximately €1 billion programme to extend operation of the plant through 2050.
Google and Fortum have also signed a memorandum of understanding covering potential new nuclear generation, renewable capacity, flexibility assets, and energy portfolio services. The companies will examine possible commercial structures for additional reactors at Loviisa, as well as whether Fortum-owned powered land could support future Google data centre development.
That creates a broader infrastructure model around Google’s Finnish growth. Rather than relying on a single procurement route, the company is combining long-term firm generation, new variable renewable capacity, batteries, and location choices designed around existing transmission infrastructure.
The northern development strategy also reflects the increasingly difficult relationship between very large computing loads and European grid queues. Moving projects towards areas with available generation and stronger network conditions can reduce some connection pressures, although it shifts more of the development challenge towards land, local infrastructure, construction capacity, and the ability to secure sufficient long-term demand to support new energy investment.
Finland already combines high levels of low-carbon generation with a cool climate and established industrial infrastructure, which has made it one of the Nordic markets attracting hyperscale development. Google’s programme adds considerably more capital to that market while making electricity-system integration unusually explicit.
No commissioning timetable has been given for all four locations, and Google has not disclosed the eventual IT or grid capacity of the combined developments. Those figures will determine the full system impact. For now, the €13 billion commitment establishes a multi-site expansion in which data centre construction and energy infrastructure are being planned as parts of the same investment programme.
