Google plans to invest at least €13 billion in Finnish data centers and supporting infrastructure during 2027 and 2028, the company’s largest single investment in Europe. The buildout covers Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala and is paired with long-term contracts for nuclear power, wind generation and battery storage. Google did not disclose the sites’ combined computing or electrical capacity.
The central energy agreement is a 22-year power purchase contract with Fortum covering the life extension of the Loviisa nuclear plant. The deal begins at lower capacity in 2028 and contracts for 50 percent of the plant’s capacity during 2030 through 2049. Loviisa supplies about 10 percent of Finland’s electricity and employs roughly 580 people.
Fortum is undertaking an approximately €1 billion program to keep the plant operating through 2050. About €700 million of the required capital spending and 80 percent of the projects were still awaiting investment decisions when the agreement was announced. Fortum says Google’s contract provides revenue certainty for the full life-extension program and enables an additional 10-megawatt increase beyond a 38-megawatt uprate already planned for 2028.
Google and Fortum also signed a memorandum to explore new nuclear reactors at Loviisa, renewable generation and flexible capacity. The first project is a 94-megawatt battery beside Google’s new Kajaani data center, expected to begin operating in late 2027. Separate wind contracts with Valorem and Suomen Hyötytuuli bring Google’s announced new-to-grid Finnish onshore wind portfolio to 629 megawatts.
The portfolio spans southern and northern Finland. Google says it worked with grid operator Fingrid and Business Finland to place northern facilities near carbon-free generation and existing transmission capacity. Its Hamina campus, built from a former paper mill purchased in 2009, uses seawater cooling and is developing a heat-recovery system intended to cover 80 percent of the local district network’s annual heat demand.
Electricity access has become a controlling constraint on new compute. Global hyperscalers are spending more than $600 billion in 2026 while running into a power wall, and utilities have begun requiring bank guarantees before studying data center grid connections. Google has also limited Meta’s use of Gemini because of capacity pressure.
Google projects that construction will support more than 37,000 jobs and add an annual average of €3.6 billion to Finnish gross domestic product in 2027 and 2028. Those are Google projections and include on-site work, suppliers and jobs supported by worker spending, not just positions at the data centers.
Sources: Google, Fortum, Data Center Dynamics
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By the Control Plane Editorial Team