A data center will be built on Autobahn 66 near Hofheim.

The client is the municipal energy supplier Süwag, who wants to get into the business with the project.

According to the company, the location was chosen because there is a substation there that can be used to supply the computers in the planned center with energy.

According to its own statements, Süwag wants to invest around 90 million euros.

The company wants to look for a partner company for the data center and enter into a joint venture with it, which will be based in Hofheim.

Jan Schiefenhövel

Freelance author in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The city promises to benefit from the trade tax project, as Mayor Christian Vogt (CDU) said.

The pandemic has shown that tax revenues are finite, so efforts are being made to locate new businesses.

As a municipal-owned company, Süwag is a strong partner with whom one would rather plan together than with a company “from overseas”, said the town hall chief on Wednesday when the project was presented.

The regional zoning plan must be changed for the construction.

That would take a year and a half, said Vogt.

Meanwhile, the city council could adopt the development plan.

According to Süwag, the construction work will take another year, so that the center can start operations in two and a half years at the earliest.

Waste heat should be used for heating

In the Rhine-Main area, the demand for locations for servers is growing, especially because of the proximity to the DE-CIX Internet hub in Frankfurt, said Markus Coenen, Süwag Board Member for Networks and Finance. Computing power is needed for communication between companies, for example in video conferences, as well as for leisure time entertainment with films from streaming services. So far, Süwag has only supplied electricity for other operators' data centers.

The 11,000 square meter building site is located near the driveway of federal highway 519 on Autobahn 66 near Hofheim-Marxheim, as Jens Ommer said, responsible for real estate at Süwag.

This location is far enough away from residential areas so that no one is disturbed by noise or waste heat.

The heat generated by the servers should be used to heat the rooms in the Süwag substation.

The mayor can also imagine using local heating in the new Marxheim II building area.

As much electricity as 30,000 residents

According to von Ommer, the fact that four providers offer access to the Internet via fiber optic cables also speak in favor of the location near Marxheim. In the long term, Süwag is aiming for a direct connection to the DE-CIX node in Frankfurt. Despite the stable power supply from two power lines, an emergency power supply is planned.

The data center will consist of three modules, the two-storey buildings should be around 17 meters high. It will rent stands for the customers' servers. They offer cabinets with a power connection, internet connection and cooling, said Ommer. Later, the data center should also offer services with its own hardware. The data center will receive a power connection with a capacity of 30 megawatts. The computers there used as much electricity as a city with 30,000 inhabitants.