The city council in Zeewolde, Netherlands has approved plans for a hyperscale data centre for Facebook in the city. The plan was approved 11 votes to 8, allowing the land to be rezoned from agriculture to allow the commercial project.
The project has raised controversy in the country, as data centres proliferate and start to put pressure on local energy grids and land prices. Meta/Facebook prepared the project under a different name for two years, only recently revealing it was behind the project, and a protest against Meta was held outside the council meeting, according to local media. Facebook claims to have plans to re-use the excess heat from the data centre, but these are not yet concrete. Local farmers are concerned the site will be a strain on water supplies.
