Construction crews will break ground Monday, April 9 on a new $600 million Google data center in Jackson County, Ala.
The Alabama Data Center is being built on 350-acres off of County Road 96 in Bridgeport, Ala on the on the grounds of TVA’s Widows Creek Steam Plant. The site will be the internet giant’s newest U.S. Data Center. It is expected to add upwards of 100 well-paying jobs with highly technical skill sets, including computer technicians, system administrators, software technicians and engineers in Jackson County.
Google announced plans to construct a Data Center in Jackson County on June 24, 2015. Its 14th data center site globally, Google’s Alabama Data Center will represent the eighth of its kind in the U.S. and only the second new U.S. site since 2007. Upon completion, employees of the center will work to keep Google Search, Gmail, YouTube and many other Google applications operational 24-hours a day for users across the globe.
According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, “at the Jackson County site, Google will repurpose TVA’s decommissioned coal-fired Widows Creek Power Plant. And like nearly all of the tech giant’s other data centers, the facility in Bridgeport will be 100 percent powered by renewable energy — at no cost to efficiency.”
The invitation-only event includes guests Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, Google representatives and leadership, Jackson County elected officials, Jackson County school district leadership, along with business and community leaders.
