Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
This July 19, 2016, file photo shows the Google logo at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 | 8:50 a.m.
MINNEAPOLIS — Google is looking into building a $600 million data center in central Minnesota that would be powered by two wind farms.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy disclosed the data center project Thursday in a regulatory filing. The Google facility proposed in Becker would mark one of the largest private construction projects in recent state history and create about 50 full-time tech jobs.
Becker Mayor Tracy Bertram says the city is among several sites under consideration. Bertram says the plan calls for most of the facility's electricity to come from renewable sources.
Under the proposed agreement, Xcel would sell Google land for the facility and provide electricity service.
Xcel says the project would help the utility and the area transition from its reliance on the Sherco plant, the state's largest coal-fired power plant.
