The French data center operator Data4 wants to invest more than one billion euros in Hanau in the next few years.

CEO Olivier Micheli and Hanau's Mayor Claus Kaminsky (SPD) appeared together in front of the press on Monday to reveal a long-kept secret: Data4 will be the owner and operator of the planned large-scale data center on the site of the former Großauheim barracks in the district of the same name.

According to Micheli, the company is also planning to set up its German headquarters there.

Luise Glaser-Lotz

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Kinzig district.

  • Follow I follow

According to Kaminsky, Hanau will be integrated into the European network of data infrastructure and, as one of the future most powerful data locations in Germany, will secure an important component for the future prosperity of the city.

It is certain that Data4 will pay taxes in Hanau.

The city can therefore count on considerable income from property and trade taxes.

In addition, there would be the shares from the income tax of the new jobs.

In the final stage, there will be around 500, mostly engineers and technical specialists from various disciplines.

The regional approach is part of the Data4 philosophy, which is why future employees should come from the area as far as possible, said Micheli.

In order to employ enough specialists, the aim is to recruit young people at an early stage, which should start in schools.

In addition, Data4 offers its own training program for junior staff.

Best market opportunities

According to Micheli, Data4 has 16 years of experience in building and operating large data centers.

In addition to France, there are also almost 30 Data4 data centers, each with up to 20 buildings and an annual output of around one gigawatt, in Italy, Spain, Poland and Luxembourg.

Germany is still missing to complete the company's European strategy.

It took a long time to find a suitable location.

In Hanau they have now found what they are looking for.

The city offers ideal conditions and extends the focus of Frankfurt to the east of the Rein-Main area.

In addition, as one of the leading nations in digital infrastructure, Germany offers the best market opportunities, said the CEO.

The Hanau “data center campus” is set to become one of the largest in Germany and Europe.

Data4 acquired the approximately 20-hectare site for an undisclosed price and is also responsible for the planning, construction and operation of the modular system.

How the project developer P3, based in Frankfurt, will be involved in the project in the future was not made clear at the press conference.

According to Semir Selcukoglu, Head of Special Projects at P3, the ongoing demolition and development work will be accompanied and "ensure project continuity".

P3 Logistic Parks is a developer and owner of logistics real estate in Europe.

He acquired the area from the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks in order to develop the "P3 Data Center Hanau".

The commissioning of the first module of Data4's data center campus is planned for 2024 at the earliest or 2025 at the latest.

Further modules are to be created by 2032.

As Micheli assured, Data4 is not only interested in regionality, but also in the sustainability of the project.

The main issue here is the use of waste heat, which is often required in data center projects.

According to Martina Butz, managing director of Stadtwerke Hanau, waste heat should be used for the citizens of Hanau.

Talks are already underway with the companies involved.

For the enormous amounts of electricity that the campus will need, around 180 megawatts, the public utility company is building a ten-hectare open-space photovoltaic system in the immediate vicinity, as well as a combined heat and power plant and a substation.

It is expected that around 500,000 cubic meters of rubble will result from the demolition of the old barracks buildings, mostly warehouses for the American army.

According to the city, more than 75 percent of this is to be recycled and reused on site.