Overview
- Provinciale Staten voted to create a large-scale industrial site in the Oostpolder to extend the Eemshaven cluster, targeting sectors such as hydrogen and battery manufacturing alongside potential datacenters.
- With the approval, the province can purchase 600 hectares of land, and construction is planned to start in early 2027 if the schedule holds.
- Datacenters are allowed only after 200 of the 600 hectares are leased, and a proposal from ChristenUnie to raise the threshold to 350 hectares was rejected as legally untenable by deputy Pascal Roemers.
- GroenLinks dropped its bid to ban datacenters but is pressing to admit them only with partial public ownership, a condition the executive says it will explore.
- Residents of nearby Oudeschip voiced strong disappointment over the loss of farmland and expected nuisance, while safety concerns will involve Staatstoezicht op de Mijnen and no financial compensation is planned beyond adding green zones.