“We’re going to hear from economic development folks today. We’re going to hear from commercial developers today, as well as Google,” Heath Taylor, chamber president and CEO, told ABD. “It’s a great opportunity, and I know from speaking with Jen (Ryan) and the folks at Google, I really, really believe folks are going to be pleasantly surprised when they find out all the good that Google will do for the CSRA.”
Taylor spoke prior to last week’s Future Forward: A CSRA Development Summit started.
Google is building a data center built in the White Oak Industrial Park and near Pumpkin Center. It covers approximately 1,900 acres between Appling and Harlem. The project carries a nearly $17 billion price tag, with completion anticipated in 2028.
Leading the discussion was Jen Ryan, regional head of data center public affairs with Google.
“Google is not a California company. We’re a Georgia company,” she began. “We’ve been here for over 25 years. Atlanta is our southeastern hub. We have almost 20 manufacturing sites in every corner of the state, logistics, supply warehouses, distribution centers, and we have operated Google’s second-ever data center in North America in Douglas County since 2003.”
The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce event brought a packed audience to the Exhibition Center in Grovetown.
County Administrator Scott Johnson said Google chose Columbia County based on available land and the ability to train and provide a workforce.
“This is a large undertaking, a large project. It takes lots of folks to be able to get that done,” said Johnson. “Coming to Columbia County, a place where we have that, we have the ability to do that. I think it’s just going to prove very positive for our businesses in Columbia County, but to the market in lots of ways.”
Jen Ryan added that Google is proud of its track record of becoming part of each community where it has a facility.
“We do approach things differently. Whether it is the ratepayer protection pledge, where out of the gate, we’re going to cover our own costs,” she said. “Our energy impact funding, where we’re going in and working with communities, whether you’re fixed income, low income, rural hospitals to weatherize and make improvements for energy efficiency, affordability, and something that we partnered with Georgia Power on.”
The site will have nearly two dozen buildings covering eight million square feet. Ryan said the general contractors are holding job fairs and seeking local vendors to support the construction phase. They are also laying groundwork for their workforce.
“We are working very closely with Augusta Technical College, the K through 12 school system as well, to make an investment in the workforce and future workforce,” she said. “It’s not just HVAC or electric or general construction jobs. We bring in local vendors for our food trucks and craft services. These are long-term projects, so we’re just getting started.”
Ryan also used the opportunity to dispel some misinformation regarding data centers, beginning with the number of permanent jobs created.
“If you come to the Douglas County Data Center on any given day, there are hundreds of folks in there,” she said. “They range from what we call server ops, who are literally the computer engineers and scientists, to outside the building ops when they come, and they’re doing water tests; they’re measuring, you know, our noise compliance. They’re repairing HVACs. They’re doing electric. They’re doing plumbing. So, it runs the gamut.”
She also pointed out how a commonly used description created an image of data storage that doesn’t exist.
“I think maybe one of the sillier things the industry as a whole, and 20 years ago, was called the cloud because there is this kind of misconception that that is where the internet is,” she said. “Really, that is the server closet that we all had 20 years ago in our office buildings. The data center is today’s server closet. So, when you use YouTube or Waze or you auto-sign a document in Adobe, that is all due to a data center.”
Ryan said Google will be inviting the public to future community meetings to answer questions and address ongoing concerns.
