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Hyperscale · Saint-Ghislain, Hainaut, Belgium

Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center

Google's first European custom build, world's first chiller-less industrial canal cooled DC

Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center
Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center on the mapmap: Natural Earth (public domain)

The story

In 2009, Google opened its first purpose-built European data center in the post-industrial town of Saint-Ghislain, Belgium. The facility astonished the engineering world by running entirely without mechanical chillers. Instead, the facility relies on evaporative cooling towers that run on treated non-potable water pumped from the adjacent 19th-century Canal du Centre. Over five expansion phases, Saint-Ghislain grew into a €3 billion cloud pillar powered by green energy.

Notable

  • Opened in 2009 as the first data center Google designed and built from scratch in Europe.
  • Made history by operating completely without mechanical refrigeration chillers.
  • Purifies wastewater from the adjacent Canal du Centre via an on-site treatment plant for cooling.
  • Features a 2.8 MW on-site solar park generating clean electricity directly into server arrays.

Expansions

  • 2018: Completion of third server hall and on-site 2.8 MW solar photovoltaic park
  • 2021: €500M fifth building phase raising total campus investment to nearly €3 billion

Sources

  1. Google Data Centers: St. Ghislain, Belgium · Google · 2024-01-10
  2. Google investit 500 millions supplémentaires à Saint-Ghislain · RTBF · 2021-11-09
  3. Google Runs Belgian Data Center Without Chillers · Data Center Knowledge · 2009-07-15

Part of the open famous data centers dataset (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-10-15. A correction? da@mustardseedmt.com

Questions people ask
What is Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center famous for?

Google's first European custom build, world's first chiller-less industrial canal cooled DC

Where is Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center?

Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center is in Saint-Ghislain, Hainaut, Belgium (50.471, 3.849). It is operated by Google.

How much power does Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center use?

About 120 MW of IT load and 150 MW in total, according to the sources listed on this page.

What is the PUE of Google Saint-Ghislain Data Center?

1.09, trailing-12-month.