Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds were joined by Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan, Council Bluffs officials, and representatives from Google at a news conference at the State Capitol in Des Moines.
During the news conference, the leaders detailed Google’s plan to continue expansion of its data center operations in Iowa. With this additional investment of $200 million, Google surpasses a major milestone of investing over $1 billion in Iowa.
“Google’s decision to continue its investment in Iowa is a tribute to the company, and to Iowa,” said Governor Terry Branstad. “We have worked hard to make Iowa an attractive and safe place to do business, and this is another example of that work bringing great results. Google has found a unique recipe in Iowa: an educated workforce, reliable tax structure, and reasonable energy costs. Google’s substantial investment, now totaling more than $1.1 billion, represents a major step towards Iowa building a diversified and forward looking economy.”
On November 15, Google announced on its website:
“We invested $75 million in a 50 MW wind farm in Rippey, a small town in Greene County, Iowa. The wind farm, developed by RPM Access, is expected to produce enough energy to power over 15,000 Iowa homes. It uses turbines produced by Nordex USA at their Jonesboro, Arkansas facility. The energy produced by the wind farm has been contracted to the Central Iowa Power Cooperative, an Iowa-based utility that will deliver the energy to local consumers. We’re happy to help make more renewable energy available to Iowans and to support the growing wind energy industry in the state.”
“We are proud of all that Google has accomplished in Iowa, and we are also grateful for the significant investments they have put back into the state and community. Google has truly gone above and beyond in making the lives of Iowans better,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) stated, “Google’s decision to build in Iowa, and its continued investment are a clear example of a successful local, state and private partnership. Working together, we’ve built a framework for success that benefits private industry and the State of Iowa.”
Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan noted “Google is a good neighbor, as we’d say here in Iowa, helping our local schools, non-profits and the community. The decision to continue its substantial investment in Council Bluffs is a tribute to the strong partnership our city and county governments have built with Google.”
Coming within four years of first opening the Council Bluffs Data Center, surpassing the $1 billion investment amount puts Google in the top tier of new companies that have chosen Iowa as an operations center.
The Google data center in Council Bluffs currently employs more than 130 workers and houses computer systems and associated components that support services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, and new products including Google+.
“Since opening our data center operations here in 2009, we have been committed to Council Bluffs and to Iowa,” Google Data Center Operations Manager Chris Russell said. “We have an outstanding workforce in the Council Bluffs area, and we are so appreciative of the exceptional welcome we have received from the local community and the state of Iowa. We are glad to be in Iowa, and Google’s future here is very bright.”
About Google
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. The Google data center located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, houses computer systems and associated components that support services such as Google Search, Gmail and Google Maps and Google + and employs more than 30,000 people. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. For more information, visit www.google.com/micrositeforcouncilbluffs..
Google was recently recognized at the top of Fortune Magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2012. In addition, the data center also received ISO 14001 and 18001 certification, which is the standard for environmental management and workforce safety. Google is the first major Internet services company to gain external certification for their high environmental and workforce safety standards for all of their U.S. data centers.