It is offcial now. Facebook is buliding thier first European Data Center in Luleå, Sweden which happens to be walking distance from where I am living. It is their 3rd data center. The new data center is aimed to server more than 800 million Facebook users. Luleå was selected based on several factors like suitable climate for environmental cooling, clean power resources, available land, talented regional workforce and supportive business and corporate environment.

The Lulea Data Center will consist of three server buildings with an area of 28 000 m2 (300 000 ft2) each. Construction takes place in three phases and begins instantly. The first building is to be operational within a year and the entire facility is scheduled for completion by 2014. About 300 full-time positions will be required during the first three years.The data center is going to run mainly on Hydropower.

Luleå holds a combination of ideal inherent qualities for data storage; technological competence, an extremely stable electricity infrastructure, natural cooling all year round and renewable hydropower – which will fully power the new data center that requires 120 MW.

Luleå is one of Scandinavia´s leading skill centers in ICT (Information and Communications Technology), and 20 billion Euro in agreed investments makes the region one of the fastest growing regions in Europe. Even though Luleå lies close to the northern polar circle, the communications infrastructure is highly developed. Lulea is one-hour flight from Sweden’s largest international hub – Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

You can read more about this project here