(Bloomberg) — Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. said a new data center it plans to build in the Netherlands will create hundreds of jobs and run entirely on renewable energy, amid a row in government over the environmental impact of such large-scale projects.
The facility in Zeewolde, located 55 kilometers east of Amsterdam, is expected to be the country’s largest and will eventually support over 1,000 construction and hundreds of operational jobs, a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg on Friday. All of Meta’s data centers have achieved net zero carbon emissions, they added.
While the company said there’s still a significant amount of work to be done before an investment decision can be considered, the project has received a nod from the authorities. The zoning plan was approved by the majority of local council members Thursday, according to an announcement on the website of Zeewolde municipality.
The green light comes even as Dutch parties pledged to make it more difficult to grant permission for so-called hyperscale data centers, according to the coalition agreement that was presented on Wednesday. Some members of the council opposed the plan citing sustainability concerns, Dutch news agency ANP reported Friday.
Dutch political parties PvdA and GroenLinks also expressed opposition to the plans. GroenLinks party member Suzanne Kröger said on Twitter that more regulations were needed for “this kind of energy-intensive industry.”
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