Senate rejects initial plans for Facebook data center in Zeewolde
The Dutch Senate called on the government not to sell land to Facebook's parent company Meta for a large data center in Zeewolde. The Zeewolde city council approved the arrival of the data center last week. But as part of the land is owned by the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf, the central government real estate agency, the deal is not done until the government agrees to sell the land, NOS reports.
Animal party PvdD submitted the proposal to block this sale. The Rijksvastgoedbedrijf already has a set of preconditions before selling land. The new coalition agreement states that the incoming Cabinet plans to tighten these preconditions and aim for national management and criteria when it comes to allocating land for things like data centers.
According to the coalition agreement, data centers "make a disproportionate claim on the available sustainable energy in relation to the social and/or economic added value."
The PvdD proposed suspending the sale in Zeewolde "until a new Cabinet vision for spatial planning and data centers is ready." A majority in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, supported the proposal.
State Secretary Raymond Knops of Home Affairs said he would study the motion from the Eerste Kamer.
