Google Opens South Carolina Data Center

Google has begun operating its new $600 million data center in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The company marked the occasion yesterday with a grand opening event for local residents and officials.

"All of us are at the epicenter of world-class, leading technology that we can all be proud of," said Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler, one of the local officials on hand for the event. Google also invited 50 local residents to attend, who were randomly selected from a larger group that registered for the event. Only residents of Berkeley County, where the facility is located, were eligible to attend. While the ceremony was held on the grounds, Google did not allow visitors inside the data center facility.

The Google data center was announced in April 2007 and will create 200 jobs paying an average salary of $48,000 per year. The facility is located on a 520-acre site at the Mount Holly Commerce Park, continuing a trend in which Google has acquired large amounts of land surrounding its data centers. The facility will use up to 1 million gallons a day of water, but half the electricity of most data centers of similar size, according to the Charleston Post and Courier,  which attended the event.

Google has also purchased more than 450 acres of land in Blythewood, South Carolina and filed site plans for a potential future data center. In July the company said it had "no development plans for the Blythewood site to announce at this time."