This World-Wide Tech Firm is Expanding Here in Minnesota

Minnesota may not have snagged that big Amazon distribution center last year, but another high-tech firm announced it's set to build a new facility here.

Is the Land of 10,000 Lakes becoming the new Silicon Valley? Well, maybe not, but Google has announced plans to build a new data facility here in the Bold North. And it's not the first tech firm to build a similar type of data warehouse in our neck of the woods, either.

This Star-Tribune story says Google has announced plans to buy land from Xcel Energy near its Sherco power generating station in Becker (that's midway between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud along Highway-10, about two hours and 15 minutes from Rochester) that will eventually be the home of a new, state-of-the-art 600-million dollar data center.

The story notes that Google is joining other tech firms like Microsoft and Apple that have built similar data centers next in Iowa. (Heck, Apple has another new facility currently under construction in Iowa too.)

This Minnesota center is unique, though, in that it will be powered completely by renewable energy (which is how Google powers all its data centers), the story said. Google is apparently negotiating with Xcel Energy to use two huge wind turbines to power the planned plant.

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