Google is continuing to ramp up its investment in its European data center operations, announcing a further EUR$450m (about US$608) will be spent adding additional capacity at its Hamina data center in Finland, famed for using seawater for cooling.

Last August Google said it was increasing its investment for the Hamina facility by US$184.5m, which would see the data center - which launched in September 2011 - double in size.

Google data center manager dieter Kern said Google now feels it needs to build out further capcity “to deliver the lightning fast, easy-to-use services that people expect form Google”.

Kern was short on offering information on exactly how this money would be spent.

To date, Google said it has spent EUR350m (US$472.85) on the data center, which was built using the shell of an old 1950s paper mill.

The mill’s granite seawater tunnels now pump water into the facility, bringing about efficiency savings which when teamed with free cooling make the data center one of the greenest in Google’s global fleet.

In June this year Google said it had entered a deal with German insurance company Allianz and Swedish wind-farm developer O2 to provide wind power for the facility for ten years from September 2015, using a wind farm in Northern Sweden providing 72MW of power.

But this new investment seems to be focussed more on increasing capacity.

Google Finland country manager Anni Rokainen said demand is growing for Google’s products, from YouTube to Gmail.

“We’re investing hundreds of millions of euros in expanding our European data centers,” Rokainen said.

“The investment underlines our commitment to working to help Finland take advantage of all the economic benefits of the Internet.”

The town of Hamina is just one in Finland which has suffered since the demise of its paper industry.

High-tech investments are being encouraged to help build new local workforces in these areas and boost the national economy, Finland prime minister Jyrki Katainen said.

“Finland needs more foreign debt investments in order to enhance our economic growth and employment,” Katainen said.

He said the government launched a new national investment promotion strategy in December 2012 which included data centers as a primary sector.

“Therefore, Google’s investment decision is important for us and we welcome it warmly,” Katainen said.

See how Google uses seawater for cooling at its Hamina data center in Finland here.