Facebook pulls plug on data centre plans for Esbjerg

The multinational data company has had second thoughts when it comes to expansion in Denmark

Stephen Gadd

Mar 7, 2019

Last June, Avisen Danmark reported that another massive data centre spanning 250,000 sq metres was being planned for a site near Esbjerg on the west coast of Jutland.

In October, Facebook proved to be the company behind the rumours.

But in a surprise announcement yesterday, the company announced that after a year of preliminary work, including investing several million kroner in archaeological investigations of the site, it had decided not to go ahead.

Expanding in Ireland
In a mail the company said: “Despite the many obvious advantages – amongst which are advantageous access to high-speed fibre networks, sustainable energy as well as strong support from Esbjerg Municipality – we’ve had to conclude that all in all the site is not the right one for our next data centre in Europe,” DR Nyheder reports.

READ ALSO: Data centres eating into resources

Facebook already has a data centre underway in Odense and had earlier announced that it would expand it centre in Clonee in Ireland, but according to the company’s head of communications in the Nordics, this had no direct bearing on the decision.

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Mads Hougaard, senior HR director at the pharmaceutical company, explains that “it is also a challenge for society itself. I think collaboration between institutions, companies, and stakeholders could be beneficial.”

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