The proposed facility in the northern Dutch town of Zeewolde has been opposed by certain environmental campaigners, a section of the public and politicians
Meta halts plans to develop its Dutch data centre in Zeewolde. (Credit: Akela999 from Pixabay)
Social technology company Meta has suspended plans to build a data centre in the Netherlands owing to political opposition.
The decision follows a recent motion passed by the Dutch Senate asking Prime Minister Mark Rutte to use his powers to temporarily stop construction on the site in Zeewolde, where the data centre was planned to be located.
A spokesperson of Meta, has been quoted by Reuters, as saying: “Given the current circumstances, we have decided to pause our development efforts in Zeewolde.”
Located in the northern part of the Netherlands, Zeewolde had approved Meta’s plans to build the facility from which Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram would serve their European users.
Meta had planned to use 1.38GWh of renewable energy for powering the facility located on 166ha of farmland. The Dutch data centre was estimated to generate 400 permanent jobs.
However, certain environmental campaigners opposed the project as they did not want the limited supply of sustainable electricity produced in the Netherlands to be consumed by a multinational firm.
The news agency reported that some residents of Zeewolde said their opinion was not considered in the permitting process.
The motion by the Dutch Senate asked the government to defer the construction of the data centre until an agreement is reached on a government policy on such facilities.
The spokesperson, has been further quoted by the publication, as saying: “After having been invited in 2019 by the local, provincial and national government to consider a data centre investment in the Netherlands and Zeewolde in particular, Meta envisioned a strong partnership that would bring jobs and community benefits to the region.”
Recently, Meta said that it will build an $800m data centre in Kansas City in Missouri, US.