Microsoft has presented plans for the Rheinisches Revier and beyond. Two data centers are initially to be built in the lignite mining area. And the US company wants to train up to 1.2 million citizens in AI.
Volker Mießeler beams. In Bergheim, a town with 63,000 inhabitants in the suburbs of Cologne, of which he is mayor, the software company Microsoft will build a huge data center – a so-called hyperscaler.
It will be the largest construction project ever in Bergheim: the data center will be 200,000 square meters in size – one of the largest in all of Europe. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to take place in October. Another hyperscaler data center will be built in Bedburg along the A61.
Anyone driving on the A61 will always see the huge lignite excavators rising from the mining pits next to the motorway. In the Rhenish region, coal has been dug up in open-cast mines for decades and burned in the region’s large power plants. But with the early phase-out of brown coal by 2038 at the latest, this area is facing a major upheaval. What happens next after coal?
Microsoft as a possible pioneer
“We want to introduce ourselves as the new neighbors,” says the chairwoman of Microsoft Germany, Marianne Janik, at today’s presentation of the project in Bergheim’s neighboring town of Elsdorf. The group wants to invest a total of 3.2 billion euros in Germany – the majority in the Rhenish lignite mining area in the towns of Bergheim, Elsdorf and Bedburg. “Microsoft Germany has been active in North Rhine-Westphalia for decades, where we have many large customers. And now we are supporting the region as it enters the AI age,” explains Janik.
A few hundred jobs would be created directly in the two new data centers, she says. This will hardly replace the 14,400 jobs that will be lost in the Rhenish region due to the shutdown of the coal-fired power plants. But the region hopes that the billion-dollar investment will attract many more companies and jobs.
Investment could increase confidence in the region
Elsdorf’s mayor Andreas Heller is already seeing very positive effects of Microsoft’s announcement in his community. “This is now the moment when a lot of trust is returning among the population. Three or four years ago I had very difficult citizens’ meetings when it came to future projects. I came out of the last meeting two weeks ago with a lot of applause , because people now know what’s coming.”
With the new data centers, Microsoft wants to increase the capacities of cloud and artificial intelligence in Germany. In addition, the company wants to promote knowledge about artificial intelligence with a qualification initiative. By 2025, 100,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia alone are expected to be trained in using AI. Microsoft wants to further educate 1.2 million people nationwide – especially schoolchildren. The aim is to increase evaluation skills so that it is clearer whether an image or statement was created using artificial intelligence or not.
Another location could follow
Another decisive factor in Microsoft’s decision for the region was a secure energy supply, which in the more distant future could also be provided by modern hydrogen power plants with sustainably produced electricity.
Microsoft seems very happy with the new neighborhood in the Rhenish area. A third possible location for a data center is even being discussed. The negotiations are ongoing.