GOOGL Alphabet Inc

   By Dave Sebastian 
 

Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google LLC plans to invest 3 billion euros ($3.31 billion) to build data centers in Europe over the next two years, in a move to up its sustainability efforts, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Friday.

The company plans to invest EUR600 million for its data-center presence in Hamina, Finland, as part of the investment, Mr. Pichai said in a blog post.

With the latest investment, Google would have poured EUR15 billion into Europe's internet infrastructure since 2007, Mr. Pichai said.

Mr. Pichai said Google is embarking on 10 renewable energy projects that include an offshore wind project in Belgium, five solar energy projects in Denmark and two wind energy projects in Sweden.

Mr. Pichai was in Helsinki Friday to meet Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne.

The projects would support more than 13,000 full-time jobs in the European Union, Mr. Pichai said, citing a Copenhagen Economics study.

Also, on Thursday, Mr. Pichai said the company purchased a 1,600-megawatt package of agreements that include 18 energy deals, including the construction of more than $2 billion in new energy infrastructure.

Google has had a rocky relationship with European antitrust regulators, which penalized the tech giant with a EUR1.49 billion fine in March for limiting how some websites could display ads sold by its rivals.

The fine added to a total of EUR6.76 billion levied against Google in two other decisions since 2017, trailing formal charges the European Union has filed so far against the tech giant in a decadelong investigation into its practices.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2019 10:37 ET (14:37 GMT)

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