Google data center project in Kronstorf, Austria draws environmental criticism

Google is constructing its first Austrian hyperscale data centre on a 50‑hectare site in the municipality of Kronstorf, Upper Austria. The facility is slated to operate at up to 150 MW in its current phase, with a possible full‑scale capacity of 500 MW, a power demand the transmission operator says could equal the electricity use of up to 900,000 households. The project is promoted as creating about 100 local jobs and boosting the region’s innovation profile.

Local residents and the citizen initiative "Rechenzentrum Kronstorf" have raised environmental concerns. They point to the planned extraction of up to 200 litres of river water per second for cooling, and the discharge of heated water (up to 30 °C) into the Enns, which they say exceeds the 26 °C limit for a healthy fish zone. Activists also warn about the loss of fertile farmland, potential groundwater depletion, and the lack of a transparent environmental assessment. Google and the Upper Austrian government claim the waste heat could eventually be fed into district‑heating networks, but a connection to the regional heat grid has not yet been realised.