Massive data centers have sprung up across Oregon over the past few years.
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BY JON BELL
Massive data centers have sprung up across Oregon over the past few years. And with Apple’s announcement in February that it, too, will be setting up shop in Prineville, Oregon will likely continue to provide fertile ground for even more massive server farms. “It’s a great place to use outside air for cooling, there have been some nice tax incentives and there are lower costs for power,” says Eric Hulbert, president and CEO of Opus Interactive, a Portland hosting firm that moved into an 80,000-square-foot data center in Portland last fall. “Overall, your costs are less. That’s a big advantage.”
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Though data centers, like this one run by EasyStreet, consume lots of power, many buy clean energy to boost their sustainability measures. |
350 Estimated number of people directly employed by major data centers in Oregon
$148 million Estimated economic activity related to Facebook’s capital spending in Oregon in 2010-11
$3 million State and local tax revenues associated with Facebook’s Oregon operations
28 megawatts Electricity that Facebook’s Prineville data center consumes annually
30 megawatts Electricity consumed by all other homes and businesses in Crook County
SB 1532 Legislation passed this year by the Oregon House and Senate exempting data centers from certain taxes
$3 million State and local tax revenues associated with Facebook’s Oregon operations
28 megawatts Electricity that Facebook’s Prineville data center consumes annually
30 megawatts Electricity consumed by all other homes and businesses in Crook County
SB 1532 Legislation passed this year by the Oregon House and Senate exempting data centers from certain taxes
