Google to Expand Oregon Data Center Campus

Google has gained approvals to build an additional structure on its data center campus at The Dalles, Oregon, according to local media. The company plans to build a 15,000 square foot "data storage warehouse" on its property at The Dalles, according to The Oregonian.

The expansion is consistent with Google's approach to building multi-facility data center campuses in areas with abundant power and climates that support using outside air for cooling servers. Google has pursued phased build-outs of data center capacity at its sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Iowa, as well as Oregon.

The company's initial site plans for The Dalles called for as many as three data center buildings. The property currently has two completed data centers.

The Google campus at The Dalles was the first project in the company's initiative to build its own energy-efficient infrastructure, and is one of the data center industry’s most photographed facilities. Pictures of the data center buildings at The Dalles have appeared on the front page of The New York Times, Information Week and in many photos on Flickr. A copy of Google’s site plan was published by Harpers.

But don't expect to see similar images on Google Maps. Although the Google buildings in The Dalles are clearly visible on rival mapping sites from Microsoft and Yahoo, they are nowhere to be found on Google Maps, which appears to be using imagery of The Dalles from before the data centers were built in 2006.