tensions around the fifth site in the northern districts

His stadium Vélodrome, his good mother, her old port and her Data Centers … In the eyes of technophiles, Marseille also shines by these large warehouses in which the countless digital data circulating on the web is processed. Thanks to its telecom cables placed at the bottom of the sea in order to transport the internet, the phone and television between different continents, the Marseille city has become the sixth global crossroads of digital exchanges.

What Patrick Robert ignored, until the day he learned, on the occasion of the launch of a public inquiry, that such a megacentre was going to set up in the Grand Port Maritime. The president of the Federation of Committees of Interest in the 16th arrondissement (northern districts), has seen red: he who fights to electrify the port quays in order to reduce the noise pollution linked to the shipyard immediately thought that we “exhausted the electrical resources of the city”. On this level, the consumption of the site is indeed equivalent to that of the entire 13th arrondissement of Marseille, or more than 90,000 people, in one year.

Like the capital of Bouches-du-Rhône, these data centers are increasing, especially in Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France. They are about 300 to date. “Plug, baby, plug” (“Branch, baby, branch”), proudly proclaimed Emmanuel Macron at the start of the year. With the Annual Salon Vivatech – in Paris until June 14 -, the Summit for AI or even the French Summit Choose France … The country is dreaming in a new digital Eldorado. Thirty-five new sites have been identified. The promises of investments are raining and the head of state wants to go quickly, on the model of the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris. A simplification bill aimed at accelerating major projects is being examined. Data centers could thus be labeled “project of major national interest”. A qualification making it possible to bypass urban planning plans and authorize environmental derogations relating to protected species. Local consultation would also be lightened.

Energy sites

In the Marseille city, the first data center is installed a few steps from the European hospital, the other three on the port, in the northern districts. And a sixth should also see the light of day in Bouc-Bel-Air, commune of the Marseille urban area.

From the street, they are barely found, melted in the urban decor. Only a few cameras indicate the sensitive character of these cold warehouses, soulless who lives, or almost, around. Behind their concrete walls are hidden from gigantic racks of hard drives, in which billions of data are stored: chat videos to digital companies or the state that have rented these locations. Property of the State, the Grand Port Maritime was able to accommodate its three factories without requesting the advice of the local authorities. Scalded, the socialist town hall considered last year a moratorium. “If we add all the territory’s projects, their electricity consumption reaches that of all Marseille! »Calculate Sébastien Barles, deputy mayor delegated to the ecological transition. The American lessor Digital Realty, however, ensures that its fifth data center will be supplied by an autonomous station “without impact on the city’s electrical capacities” and whose sources are “100 %” renewable. The company also promises to create 200 jobs (40 direct and 160 indirect). “None are local, apart from a little cleaning, construction and security,” mocks the elected official.

More pollution

For Stéphane Coppey, legal delegate of France Nature Environnement Bouches-du-Rhône, these installations create heat islands and require significant cooling systems. The water pumped at 15 ° C is released at 30 ° C in the Mediterranean. “An American company, whose jobs only take advantage of the margin at the Marseillais, and which causes more degrees, thank you well! He sums up.

If they are affected by the development of these Data Centers the northern districts also have a host of other problems to face: aerial pollution, that of cruise liners, unhealthiness, brawls … “We combine the nuisances”, recognizes Patrick Robert. No wonder, therefore, that the dispute is still limited to elected officials and militant collectives. Except for time, the fifth Data Center Marseillais will be inaugurated in 2026.

Like the capital of Bouches-du-Rhône, these data centers are increasing, especially in Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France. They are about 300 to date. “Plug, baby, plug” (“Branch, baby, branch”) proudly proclaimed Emmanuel Macron at the start of the year. With the Annual Salon Vivatech – in Paris until June 14 -, the Summit for AI or even the French Summit Choose France … The country is dreaming in a new digital Eldorado. Thirty-five new sites have been identified.

The promises of investments are raining and the head of state wants to go quickly, on the model of the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris. A simplification bill aimed at accelerating major projects is being examined. Data centers could thus be labeled “major national interest project”. A qualification making it possible to bypass urban planning plans and authorize environmental derogations relating to protected species. Local consultation would also be lightened.