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Google Confirms $600M South Carolina Data Center

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the company-annexes dept.

miller60 writes "Google continues its furious data center building program in the Carolinas. Today the company announced a $600 million data center in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Google has already begun construction on a $600 million data center project in Lenoir, North Carolina, and is in the permitting process on another huge project in Richland County, South Carolina. Google's appetite for large tracts of land and cheap power are driving the site location process. Similar huge projects in central Washington are already transforming the tiny town of Quincy, where real estate prices have spiked, with open land fetching as much as 10 times its previous value."

38 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Maps by needacoolnickname · · Score: 2, Funny

    Any of these sites on Google Maps?

    1. Re:Maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Doesn't look like it. I live about a mile from the site. I just looked on Google Maps and Google Earth and I see where it is but the maps do not show that the ground has been broken yet. Trust me, the construction began months ago. They have already cleared a lot of the woods. That doesn't show up yet. As someone in the IT field living just down the street, we are glad that Google is coming... but we do not kid ourselves either. I told a co-worker the other day that an intellectual company like Google does not locate their data center int the state that is 50th in education for the local talent pool. It may have been underplayed but it was said that they are under no obligation to hire from the local economy. Either way. I personally welcome our new Google overlords here in Goose Creek. My advice? Not matter what the locals say, do not eat the grits. I have lived here since 1977 and those things are disgusting. Stick with oatmeal... ya'll.

    2. Re:Maps by NitsujTPU · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought that liking hot grits was central to the Slashdot experience.

      It's like they say, Slashdot has changed.

    3. Re:Maps by ezratrumpet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      South Carolina education is a little deceptive. The schools in the Myrtle Beach area are extraordinary, with high teacher pay, excellent resources, and strong student achievement. Cross the county line, and you find one of the most underfunded and outdated school districts in the United States.

      If you're looking for smart, capable people in South Carolina (or California, or Idaho, or wherever), you'll find smart, capable people - as long as compensation is strong.

      Most of Google's hires may be from out of state, but they will quickly become South Carolinians through property purchase, taxation, and spending their money within the local service economy.

      Teaching them to love Lowcountry shrimp boil will take a few weeks; teaching them to say "y'all" as a pronoun will take a few months; teaching them to refer to all soft drinks as "Coke" takes one to two years. But now I'm offtopic.....

    4. Re:Maps by FooAtWFU · · Score: 2, Informative

      If grits are disgusting, you're eating them wrong. You need good hominy grits (I don't care for the yellow kind) that you cook, serve, and let solidify to about the consistency of mashed potatoes.... In fact, come to think of that, you can treat them fairly similarly to mashed potatoes in many respects... DON'T drown them in butter or syrup or salt them to death. That IS disgusting. Just a little little bit of butter, mmmaybe a sprinkling of raisins, and you have a good munchy substance to fill you up with a few carbohydrates, a bit of fiber, and some assorted other small-time nutrition stuff.

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    5. Re:Maps by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Doesn't look like it. I live about a mile from the site. I just looked on Google Maps and Google Earth and I see where it is but the maps do not show that the ground has been broken yet. Trust me, the construction began months ago.

      I don't think you or the OP AC realise that Google [Earth|Maps] data is updated on a _very_ irregular basis with an emphasis on large metropolitan areas. (Which Charleston isn't.) Data can be as much as six years out of date.
    6. Re:Maps by packeteer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And it will take generations for them to catch onto boiled peanuts.

      --
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    7. Re:Maps by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is not necessarily a 100% draw for experienced talents. Moving to a region with only a small handful of companies leave you at the mercy of the company (google in this case). If you were out in NY or CA packed with jobs, you can always find the next thing when things don't work out. In south carolina you don't have that option. People do not work 10+ years at companies anymore.

      You will likely take a paycut since the area is cheaper. After that, you will lose value if you try to move out of SC. I think NC would be a better choice for google.

  2. .... at a geometric rate.... by tiltowait · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Makes you wonder if this (Business)Week's cover story is right, Is Google Too Powerful?

  3. If it lasts by dorpus · · Score: 3, Informative

    Will it be one of those weird corporate mega-projects that will get shut down as soon as its built? The corporation had no intention of using the facility, it was just building something for the sake of pleasing investors, getting tax breaks. This is routine business in IT -- Silicon Valley was full of billion-dollar empty campuses when I lived there.

  4. How about building a data center at Swamp Castle by mamono · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't like her? What's wrong with her. She's beautiful, she's rich, she's got huge ... tracts of land.

  5. So much cruft by andy314159pi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It sounds like the expansion of the internet is making these search engines use alot more hardware and energy to make all of the content searchable. If only we could automate methods of removing some of the cruft from being included in the search domain then the whole process would be more efficient. I'm mostly referring to the seemingly endless amount of automatically generated content and just plain bizarre content that searches always turn up.

  6. Re:How about building a data center at Swamp Castl by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let's not bicker and argue over who should carbon offset who.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  7. Re:Nice locations by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google Maps says it's 558 miles / 8 hours 10 minutes from Berkeley County SC to Washington, DC. By way of comparison, it's just 7 hours 32 minutes from Tampa, Florida. I would not call it "close". Come now. You're in Tennessee? You should know this part of the country better than THAT. Especially if you want to comment on it. Sure, it's five or six hours closer to DC than you, but...

    --
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  8. We're not all hillbillies here... by dr_strang · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's SO refreshing to see stereotypes painted with such a broad brush.

    I for one am excited to see how this works out. I will definitely send them my resume. South Carolina is a fantastic place to work and live, and with more high-tech jobs like this coming to the state and the area, it can only get better.

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    1. Re:We're not all hillbillies here... by fessor+eli · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That particular location is close to one of the nation's unique cities, Charleston, and is actually a fairly progressive part of the state. Of course, that's "progressive" compared to the rest of the state. (I grew up in another county.) Google will have to decide to get involved in improving the education system if they want long-term growth there, like Toyota has done in my now-home state, Kentucky. Otherwise, they will be importing every employee from elsewhere, and will eventually have trouble drawing top-notch people who have families. Here's hoping that's what they do.

    2. Re:We're not all hillbillies here... by dr_strang · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't think this stereotyped dearth of intelligent and motivated people is a reality. I've lived and worked in Charleston for a long time in the technology sector and I've worked with and known many smart, creative and motivated people. There's a large software company here and a lot of advanced industry in the area as well. Just because the DC is in Berkeley County doesn't mean you have to live in a trailer out in the boondocks (but you can if you like)... It's right next to Charleston County as well as Dorchester County (Summerville).

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  9. Not just the cost of the power by drew_92123 · · Score: 4, Informative

    keep in in that it's not just how much the power costs, but how much is available in the area... some areas simply don't have an extra 40MW to spare... Here in Quincy they will be pulling around 200MW within 3-5 years...

  10. Re:Nice locations by doormat · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yea, but you're forgetting how close Quincy is to The Gorge.

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  11. Re:Nice locations by d3ik · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, what better place to build a data center than TORNADO ALLEY.

  12. Dude, let it go by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Berkeley County, South Carolina?

    They're building a new facility on the opposite coast, just cover up the fact that they never realized they were talking to the government of the wrong Berkeley the whole time?

    Guys: just give up. It's not worth spending hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid saying, "oops, we goofed".

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
  13. Re:How many people does this require in the area? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah, basically a data center is just a large bunch of servers organized nicely in racks with reliable power, cooling, and connectivity.

    Obviously a few people are needed to maintain a data center, but in a good organization with standardized hardware, OS, and software platforms, and disciplined backup/restore procedures, remarkably few.

  14. Google: SC and OR; Microsoft: Quincy, WA by steveha · · Score: 2, Informative

    The summary leaves me scratching my head because the Quincey project is a Microsoft data center, nothing to do with Google. Google is building a data center in The Dalles, Oregon, right on the Columbia River.

    http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?com mand=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9001262

    Quincy is near enough to the Columbia to have cheap hydro power, but I just looked at the map and it's not right on the Columbia like The Dalles. I wonder if Google will use water from the Columbia to help cool their data center; and I wonder what the plan is for the Quincy data center. (Ordinary air conditioning? That part of Washington is cold in the winter but hot in the summer.)

    steveha

    --
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    1. Re:Google: SC and OR; Microsoft: Quincy, WA by SnowZero · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A river can still help though; They could use river water in evaporative cooling towers, just like many nuclear plants do today.

  15. How much does "power" cost? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Interesting
    At what point does it make sense to "make your own power"?

    Seriously, I have done no research, and I know there is an economy of scale issue, but if you really need lots of power, in one location, surely it must become cost effective at some point to build your own generator.

    With no transmission loss, right-of-way issues, delivery infrastructure, etc. there has to be some break-even-point. Wouldn't the entire output of a 200MW plant be cheaper if it was just for a single on-site consumer?

    Discuss amongst yourselves, thank you.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:How much does "power" cost? by uab21 · · Score: 3, Informative

      500MW will cost you about one billion dollars (can you hear the pinky?). 200MW is likely not half the cost, so we are talking several hundred million dollars. Up front. Not including fuel and maintenance costs. There are some customers that have smaller generating capacity on site, but they generally have need for more than power, say for example, chemical refineries that can use the waste heat or steam, pressure for pumping a pipeline, or other uses.

    2. Re:How much does "power" cost? by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Informative

      At what point does it make sense to "make your own power"?

      Umm... at what point does it ever make sense to build a datacenter that doesn't have the ability to run off its own power? South Carolina can experience some grid-pummeling weather, sometimes. If Google plans on having that facility up 24x7, there will be a small fleet of diesel generators and a small ocean of fuel sitting right there to keep it afloat in a pinch. Especially when what they're really up to isn't growing for more search, but growing to host web-based business apps and other stuff that they'll be telling people they can really depend on.

      Now, just because you CAN run off your own power doesn't mean you want to do it for long, since it's very maintenance intensive.

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    3. Re:How much does "power" cost? by Nocterro · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't know about datacenters but near where I lived growing up was a small oil refinery, just supplying the needs of a couple of million people, and it had a small three turbine gas-fired plant next to it. Might have something to do with the fact that here in South Australia, gas is reasonably cheap, and it was a long way away from major transmission lines or, for that matter, power plants. Guess economic feasability depends partly on what energy sources are around to supply your power plant. Building a data center next to a river? Hydro's got to start looking better.

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      [clever sig]
  16. Re:Nice locations by d3ik · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ShaunC said "If you want cheap tracts of land and cheap electricity, you build a data center in Oklahoma or Kansas".

    And if you look it up, "Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri are entirely within Tornado Alley"...

    I don't know what's more irritating, the clowns arguing about something that they missed the premise of in the first place or the people who are arguing with someone who has been to the DISA data center in OKC.

  17. Re:Nice locations by rayzat · · Score: 5, Informative

    My bet it has more to do with states that offer massive tax breaks to businesses for moving in. I know North Carolina is famous for it, especially with the new Dell facility in Greensboro and Lenovo in RTP. The Dell deal was so good the state could have employed everyone hired by Dell for 11 years with the tax breaks and loans.

  18. Re:Nice locations by afidel · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your an idiot, he was obviously referring to the grandparents posts suggestion of Kansas or Oklahoma.

    --
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  19. Re:Resistance is futile by SirTalon42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure I remember reading an article on Slashdot a while back that Google was beginning to run out of space with their current infrastructure (though I think that was several data center announcements ago). Remember that Google pretty much makes their own copy of the internet, as well as having a crap load of data about every single site out there, has to store all the gmail email, all their adsense/adwords data for every customer, and most likely they store all that information in multiple places. Oh yes, can't forget about storing all the videos from youtube/google video, thats probably a LOT of data there, plus its most likely a massive amount of bandwidth as well.

  20. Re:South Carolina by uab21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You think it's an accident that they picked the state with the lowest high school graduation rate in the country?

    OK, I'll bite, not enough people know anyway. South Carolina has some horrible school districts, but I write this from the location in SC with the highest per capita concentration of engineers in the country, and home to installations or headquarters to more Fortune 500 companies than areas 5 times it's size. SC is bringing in technology and knowledge based industry to dig itself out of the hole it's found itself in, and Google is taking advantage of the likely tax breaks, and a nearby pool of talent.

    Happier here than up North. (but my kids still go to private school...)

  21. Re:Waste by nicolas.kassis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They could always go to Quebec. Cheap Hydro electricity. Cheapest in north America and lots of cheap land. ( they could by themeselves a piece of land the size of texas for almost nothing.)

  22. Re:Waste by Belial6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Peak oil.... That's the philosophy that has me worried. After all, I reached my peak entertainment spending last year. That must mean that we are about to run out of entertainment. Oh, what a sad sad world it is going to be....

  23. Its called a co-lo by tacokill · · Score: 2, Informative

    What you are talking about is a co-lo power station. Lots of plants have these. 3M in Austin, TX comes to mind as does TI in Dallas and Sherman, TX. I am quite certain Lockheed in Ft Worth has one as well. Basically -- they are pretty common.

    Most the co-los I am familiar with are in the 10-20MW range. I've never seen one larger so I am guessing that is the point where "it makes sense".

  24. Reuse by symbolset · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember, those electrons are 100% recycled, and none of them were harmed in the lighting of those pixels.

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  25. Nucular in SC by gatzke · · Score: 4, Interesting


    In SC, we have the highest percentage of electricity supplied from nuclear (nucular?) power, so I have heard.

    This may help protect us from a rise in oil prices, I hope.

    And we are building more reactors at existing sites. Not only are we a dumping ground for nuclear waste, we also have tons of power available, and our beaches are nice too...