Eemshaven, Netherlands

The site of our first data centre in the Netherlands, Eemshaven is a bastion of renewable energy sources and recycled industrial water. Both are used to make this data centre one of our most sustainable in Europe. While investing in our neighbours’ priorities, we work together with the community to provide full-time and contractor roles to keep the internet running for everyone.

For general inquiries, email us at eemshaven@google.com.

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Where the Internet Lives: “A Creative Water Solution for a Dutch Data Centre”

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“It Gets My Heart Beating”

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Water management in the Netherlands

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Jeroen de Schutter

General Director, Agrotheek, Netherlands

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Jeroen de Schutter

Middenmeer, Netherlands

General Director, Agrotheek

Agrotheek is a nonprofit that teaches farmers how to work with innovations to get healthy crops and good income with lower costs and higher yield. Agrotheek’s general director, Jeroen de Schutter, saw an opportunity in the land outside our Middenmeer, Netherlands, data center. He approached us about cultivating the land to use as a learning field to demonstrate new innovations to farmers.

At the end of the season, Agrotheek sells the crops and uses the profits to support the institutes in the community, like the local football team and choir.

“During the season when crops were growing, people from the Google data center liked what they saw and came once a month to view our fields. If we continue next year, we can grow tulips. It’s a beautiful garden in front of the data center.”

Jeroen de Schutter

General Director, Agrotheek
Marco Ynema

Googler, Site Lead at Eemshaven Data Center

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Marco Ynema

Eemshaven, Netherlands

Googler, Site Lead at Eemshaven Data Center

Marco Ynema, site lead at our Eemshaven data center in the Netherlands, is focused on growth, whether it’s for himself in his career, or in his proficiency as a musician and audio engineer, or in helping others.

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Marco’s background is in computer science and audio engineering. He had ambitions for a career in music. Looking for stability as his family grew, he opted to pursue computer science and IT roles instead.

Marco arrived at Google in 2005, contracting as a data center technician, but he was quickly hired a year later, moving to the U.S. to work with teams on site reliability engineering and software engineering. When he heard Google was building the Eemshaven data center, he shifted back to working within operations in the Netherlands. “The best place to raise my two daughters,” he says.

As a site lead, he's observed Google’s evolution in the community, becoming more involved in outreach, including building school curriculum. Marco was involved in launching an apprenticeship program for local secondary institutions, hosting students at the Eemshaven data center, which led to full-time roles for some.

In addition to seeing Google grow our commitments to the community, he enjoys helping people grow. “What I love most is to work together with my colleagues to build something and grow what we're working on and improve.”

And music still plays a leading role in Marco’s life. He played in multiple bands over the years. Marco even built a recording studio in his backyard, ceaselessly focused on growing his talent.

“As we grow our presence, we see more interactions with the local community because we are part of the community. I also see it as our obligation to actually ensure that we are not only reaping the benefits from being here in this country, but by contributing by increasing infrastructure and creating opportunities and jobs and other things.”

Why we chose Eemshaven

A skilled local workforce
Available industrial developable land
Well-developed energy infrastructure

Measuring our investment:
Eemshaven by the numbers

View the Data Centre Impact
Report (English) View the Data Centre Impact
Report (Dutch)

Added to GDP

€1.7B+

From 2017 to 2022, Google data centres added ~€1.7 billion annually to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Netherlands through direct, indirect, and derived economic contributions.
New water pipelines

28KM

To help facilitate using industrial water to cool our servers, Google invested €45 million to build 28 kilometres of new water pipelines and water purification systems in Groningen.
Matching renewable energy purchases

100%

Since 2017, we have matched 100% of the electricity consumption of our operations with renewable energy purchases. We proudly support projects that supplement the existing carbon-free energy supply in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
Investing in our community

€6.1M

Between 2017 and 2022, Google invested €6.1 million in several local projects that helped improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and vocational education, provided vocational training to refugees, and supported small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.