Because the city of Bad Vilbel has lost an investor for a 10,000 square meter site in the "Krebsschere" commercial area, a large data center is now to be built there.

This is the result of the recent meeting of the Planning, Building and Environment Committee.

For the construction of the 160 million euro project, WV Energie AG, the public utility company, their real estate operations and the regional supplier OVAG have formed a consortium.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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According to Bernd Hielscher, the chairman of the planning, construction and environmental committee, it is not yet entirely clear whether they want to operate the data center themselves.

Operators of such facilities generally ensure a safe power supply and ensure the safety of the system.

There are numerous specialized companies on the market for this, such as E-Shelter, Equinix, Interxion and Telehouse, which operate a number of data centers in neighboring Frankfurt.

In addition, Hattersheim is blossoming as a location for data centers.

Frankfurt's industrial parks, which have so far been dominated by chemical companies, are also opening up for data centers.

The Main metropolis is the central German location for this growing industry.

building application submitted

According to Bad Vilbels Stadtwerke Managing Director Klaus Minkel, the consortium has submitted the building application.

"Data centers are needed and the demand is high," he is quoted as saying by the "Wetterauer Zeitung".

Bad Vilbel also wants to advance digitization by expanding the fiber optic network.

"In terms of the amount of technical equipment required for the data center, the project does not correspond to the stipulations of the legally binding development plan," says the submission to the city council.

Therefore, the development plan is to be changed for the 14th time.

According to Hielscher, there are plans to green the facade and roof of the data center.

There is also talk of feeding the waste heat generated by the computers into the district heating network.

The city could therefore imagine the planned large thermal baths as a customer.

Otherwise, new development areas in Massenheim that are connected to the district heating network could be considered.