Meta (NASDAQ: FB), previously known as Facebook, is closer to building another hyperscale data centre in Europe, this time in the Netherlands, which could amount to a capital commitment of over US$1.4 billion.

The project is set to be voted by Zeewolde Municipality’s council authorities on December 16. According to the social media giant, both the mayor and aldermen of the municipality have already consented to the project.

A Meta spokesperson said: “We have put this project forward in case our business needs to expand our infrastructure. Right now, our focus is on meeting the licensing and approval processes required by the Dutch authorities.”

The campus is designed to host up to five data centre buildings with a total power output of 200 MW at full build powered by renewable sources mainly from a solar farm the size of nearly 300 football fields set to be built as part of the investment in the data centre.

In addition, under the agreement with local authorities, if the data centre is approved, Meta will set up programs to help entrepreneurs and residents with digital adoption initiatives.

Alderman Egge Jan de Jonge, said: “These are programs that we want them to run. It is about helping with the digitisation of small and medium-sized businesses in our region. That includes not only Zeewolde but the broader area around it. From the province of Flevoland, we explicitly wanted to focus on this. But also training, digitisation of the elderly, young people and in schools. You have to think about those kinds of programs.”

The initiative would be similar to those run by Meta in Odense, Denmark, where the company operates a largescale site.