Luxembourg's proposal for Google data centre is unofficial

The proposal for Google to construct a 25-hectare data centre in Bissen has been made verbally at the company headquarters in Mountain View (California), according to a statement by Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider.

"The proposal is now being reviewed by Google, but lacks signatures for the provision of the 25 hectares of land," Schneider told members of the Economic Commission on Monday.

Google's future data centre could be based in Bissen

The offer made by the Luxembourg government includes the provision of land in Bissen, in close proximity to the Creos electricity maintenance centre set up in the area. It is this proximity that has allegedly sparked Google's interest in the area, although no concrete steps were taken.

The 25-hectare plot  that was proposed would be available as the result of several land acquisitions from private owners. "We have agreements in place for all plots, except for one, while some signatures are still missing," explained Minister Schneider, who went on to say that "all these pending issues will hopefully be resolved within days".

As a next step, it will be necessary to redesign the overall land development and planning in the area, a process that could last some time.

"We would have liked to know when it would be possible to reclassify these green zones," argued CSV MP Laurent Mosar at the end of the meeting.

Too many unknowns

The opposition member welcomed the fact that tech giant Google showed interest in Luxembourg, but warned of the many unknowns Schneider could not bring clarity to, including information on whether Google was considering other locations for their data centre.

If the deal goes through, the construction of the data centre would represent an investment of € 1 billion and would create 300 jobs, according to the Economy Minister.

Schneider also outlined that Google would become the leading energy consumer in Luxembourg.

The proposal to become official soon

Google had given the government until July 14 to offer a 25-hectare site capable of hosting its data center.

While a first proposal had to be scrapped due to a farmer's refusal to sell a land plot in Roost, alternatives were immediately found and a government official was sent to Google's headquarters in California. However, it was not possible to file an official proposal.

"We will make everything official and will file the final proposal, " explained sources close to the Minister of Economy.

(Reporting by Pierre Sorlut, translated by Roxana Mironescu)