Facebook announced this week that its 10th U.S.-based data center will be located in New Albany, Ohio, just north of Columbus.
The $750 million, 22-acre data plant is expected to employ 100 people and be powered exclusively by renewable energy. According to abcnews.go.com, Rachel Peterson, the company's director of data center strategy and development, said the availability of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and hydro, was critical to choosing the location — a factor underlined by Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has pushed back against legislative efforts to turn back the state's alternative energy requirements.
"It is critical that we continue developing the renewables, because, believe me, at the end of the day, if the Facebooks and the Googles and the PayPals and the Amazons think that we are not committed to renewable energy, they will not come here. Period, end of story," Kasich said.
In April, the social media giant announced it would construct a 144-acre data center outside of Omaha that would be 100% powered by wind energy. Facebook said that particular data center would be one of the most “advanced and energy efficient in the world.”
And in January, the company announced another data center that would also be one of the most “advanced and energy efficient in the world” in Denmark. Officials in the country, however, felt the facility would actually increase the country’s contribution to greenhouse warming.
