Facebook Data Center

Turner was awarded the contract to build Facebook’s new $750 million data center in New Albany, Ohio, outside of Columbus. The data center will employ 100 permanent workers when finished. Ohio Governor John Kasich stated that the project reflects the state’s desire to diversify the kinds of jobs available to its citizens. Facebook’s existing U.S. data centers are in Oregon, North Carolina and Iowa. Centers in Fort Worth, Texas and Los Lunas, New Mexico are currently under construction, and Facebook announced plans for another site in Papillon, Nebraska in April. As Turner recognized that safe, efficient delivery is essential to the success of the project for Facebook, and for the state of Ohio and its citizens, Turner addressed both the threats and opportunities to productivity, safety and risk posed by weather year-round in New Albany, Ohio.

Project Gallery

Project Features/Advancements

  • To address the threat of lightning and conform to the Lightning Protocol for Facebook's data center, Turner leveraged WeatherBuild's real-time (10 second latency), hyper-local, (250-300 meter accuracy) total lightning (both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground) strike detection alerts. Within seconds after lightning strikes either in-cloud or cloud-to-ground, WeatherBuild automatically sends alerts to operating personnel, to enable ample time to seek shelter during threats of nearby lightning strikes. Further, Turner customized WeatherBuild's lightning alert and all clear parameters to align with the project-specific Lightning Protocol for the data center.