Nicolas Léonard: Both Google and state and local authorities have been very discreet in recent months on the developments of the project to install a data centre in Bissen. Where are we in concrete terms, given the PAP will be examined on Thursday by the municipal council?

Franz Fayot: We can see in the exchanges among all parties--Google, the government, commune officials--that the concerns expressed by residents during the November 2019 meeting are taken very seriously. We have therefore seen the project evolve, even progress in earnest, especially in recent months, along lines that consider not only environmental considerations, but also quality of life at the site. Residents of Bissen were concerned about noise, traffic, and even possible light pollution at night. All of this has been heard and considered, according to Google. This is a very positive signal. But I would like to reiterate that Google has yet to give a definitive notice of its willingness to take up construction on land they have acquired in Bissen.

What main points have evolved?

The consumption of water to cool the facility was a sore point. Following discussions between Google and the ministry of the economy, as well as the ministry of state, the dossier is going, in my opinion, as a whole, in the right direction regards the origin of the water to supply the data centre cooling system. The option of capturing water in the Attert is a possibility that has already been ruled out... Electricity consumption has also been reviewed, and new technologies allow it to constantly decrease.

There were 170 remarks made during the public inquiry: that's not insignificant...

That’s not insignificant, indeed. But it made it possible to see where the most frequent objections to the project were, and subsequently to refine the analyses to find other options.

The project has advanced: what are the new figures for size, consumption of water, electricity, etc.?

Neither the details of the design nor those of the final performance of the data centre have yet been finalised. Therefore, these figures or other details have not yet been released. But I repeat that the company has been very attentive to the comments made by all parties.

When will this technical data be made public?

When the time comes, together with the relevant authorities we will analyse what factors should be assessed with regard to the impact of the project on the environment, and what then will be the level of detail that Google should provide. This environmental impact assessment precedes the commodo-incommodo ruling. It is only when Google submits its operating license application that the final data will be known to everyone. In the end, it is the labour and mines inspectorate [ITM] and the environment administration that will decide definitively on the development and what operating conditions are deemed necessary for the protection of the environment and to guarantee neighbourhood security in general. As with other large-scale projects, the ministry of the economy plays the role of facilitator between the company and the relevant authorities throughout the process.

Is the Google dossier likely to generate tension within the government?

I will be transparent: there is a clear and unequivocal commitment from the government, from the entire government, to the installation of a Google data centre in Bissen, which will be built using state-of-the-art technologies. And that’s true for various reasons. First of all, it is a new building block for the ICT ecosystem that we have developed over the past few years in Luxembourg. But such a data centre represents much more than a major investment in the ICT sector, it is a strategic project that is part of the economic diversification efforts which target ICT as a priority sector. The project is in particular part of our innovation strategy to develop in Luxembourg an economy based on data analysis and processing. The Google project is also in line with the recommendations of the Rifkin study, which advocates sustainable Industry 4.0…

Saying that the whole government is 100% in favour of the project, is that a way of putting a little pressure on the administration which will deal with the final dossier and deliver an opinion?

The Google project, like any other economic project, must respect the rules and the various obligations in the environmental field, at all levels. This company is not being viewed more favourably than any other. No, we don't put pressure on anyone. But it is a fact that everyone is in favour of this project, including members of the Green party. It makes sense: if it has been repeatedly said that Fage [Greek yoghurt factory] project was non-Rifkin compliant, this one is--100%. It really is in the spirit of the third industrial revolution. But with, I repeat, a real awareness on the part of the company of the aspects linked to sustainability. Google is a company known around the world for zero-carbon data centres.

Are ambitions high for the Bissen area?

It might well become the Silicon Valley of Luxembourg… the Google data centre would be complementary and coherent with other initiatives and activities already established on this site or envisaged there in the future by the government: the automotive campus, the supercomputer Meluxina within the framework of the European HPC  [high performance computing] initiative, the Luxconnect data centre, Kiowatt, which is specialised in the trigeneration of high-capacity biomass...The Google project will be totally at the centre of our 'data-driven economy' strategy. And Google is also likely to be a magnet that will attract other companies to this tech site.

Is the Google project also symbolically important? Is its success decisive after Fage's failure?

Failure would probably be demoralising, yes. Before that, there was Fage, there was Knauf [a rockwool company that eventually set up a plant across the border in France]… If Google succeeds, it will be a strong signal, a way of saying that, yes, we can still make large-scale projects happen in Luxembourg.

When can the case be definitively closed?

It's still a bit in the stars, very hard to say. There are administrative steps to be taken, but also important preparatory work, which has been carried out by Google.

The administrative phase will again have undergone a lengthy procedure?

But the administration is not to blame either; Google also wanted to go at its own pace. The company knew they had to find a site first. Particularly in view of its proximity to the high-voltage electric lines already present, Bissen is the ideal site for deploying such projects. The owner of some plots at the site refused to sell his land, it was then necessary to also use the land consolidation law. Which took time. The land acquisition and the negotiations with the previous owners took the most time. But Google anticipates its data centre and storage capacity needs well in advance, the company is always developing several scenarios for a project…Google knew that the Bissen project would not be done in two years.

But should administrative procedures for industrial projects be reduced in general?

Obviously, and that is why we are working on the Invest Luxembourg platform. Inter-ministerial consultation is needed to speed up procedures on industrial projects, but also on infrastructure. We must continue to prospect, to look for new projects, because I am convinced that we need industry. But we must be able to ask ourselves all the right questions from the start.

This article originally appeared in French on Paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.