Facebook has been given the go ahead by Altoona’s City Council for the construction for the second phase of its data center according to The Des Moines Register.

Last week plans for the second facility on Facebook’s 192 acre site were announced.

Its first facility on the site, its 476,000 sq ft Altoona 1 data center, is still being constructed and is expected to come online in early 2015.

Facebook said the data center will be 100% carbon neutral, with a nearby windfarm being built by MidAmerican Energy providing access to renewable power and Facebook offsetting other energy needs with Renewable Energy Credits.

Altoona 2 is expected to be approximately 15,000 sq ft smaller than Altoona 1.

It is expected that Facebook will begin the construction on Altoona 2 shortly now the plans have been approved although it has not been confirmed whether it will use its new Rapid Deployment Data Center Design.

For more information on Facebook’s Rapid Deployment Data Center Design which is currently being used to construct its Luleå 2 facility, click to sign up for a digital copy of FOCUS 35 here out now.