Company has signed preliminary contracts for site outside Mittenwalde Google has selected its preferred site for its upcoming Berlin Google Cloud region in Germany Maerkische Allgemeine reports the company is close to buying land in the Schenkendorf area of Mittenwalde The company is aiming to develop on around 30 hectares of land between the L30 and the A13 highways outside south Berlin The company has already signed corresponding preliminary contracts "We have initiated the purchase of a property in Mittenwalde and are examining other options in the region," Google spokesman Ralf Bremer said He added further steps are necessary before the final takeover: "Nevertheless we are pleased that we are making progress with our plans in Berlin-Brandenburg." Google announced plans for a Berlin cloud region in September 2021 to join its existing Frankfurt region The city owns part of the land in question which is already classified as a commercial reserve area in the local land use plan The search and cloud giant is still reportedly looking into its power options for the site which will be supplied by Cologne-based energy supplier Engie A commercial area in Neuenhagen to the east of Berlin was previously under discussion, but MA reports it was ruled out due to the lack of necessary cooling water Mittenwald Mayor Maja Busse (CDU) said: "Even though we are still at the beginning of the project and further steps are necessary but also with the hope of expecting to have a strong and reliable partner in the commercial sector at our side for the future.” and Azure have German cloud regions in Frankfurt Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Riham Alkousaa is politics and general news correspondent for Thomson Reuters in Germany, with focus on the energy and climate change topics, covering Europe’s biggest economy's green transition and Europe’s energy crisis. , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Images courtesy of the German Ministry of Finance Germany on July 17 announced plans to issue a €20 coin in March 2025 to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Year of Women The .925 fine silver coin will be issued in both Uncirculated and Proof versions both weighing 18 grams and measuring 32.5 millimeters in diameter The coin was designed by the artist Jordi Truxa from Neuenhagen near Berlin Centered on the obverse is the international female symbol Half of a globe develops to the left of the gender symbol and a woman’s profile develops to the right A German inscription translating to “International Year of Women” arches above and 1975 is centered below the imagery A central horizontal axis runs from the left edge aligns with the equator of the globe and reappears beyond the woman’s right-facing profile This impressively underlines the central role of women in the world Designer’s initials JT appear at left On the reverse is the name of the nation in German a stylized German eagle (its left-facing head splitting the denomination) and the issue date 2025 splitting the European Union’s 12 stars An edge inscription includes the symbol for women with wording translating to “Equality — Development — Peace.” The coin is first in a multi-year Shaping Women series of 12 coins being released from 2025 to 2035 The focus of the series is an appreciation of women’s achievements and personalities The Uncirculated 2025 coin will be issued at face value and the Proof coin will be issued above face value with exact pricing to be determined closer to the release date Whether you’re a current subscriber or new, you can take advantage of the best offers on magazine subscriptions available in digital, print or both! Whether you want your issue every week or every month, there’s a subscription to meet your needs World Coins Precious Metals US Coins Check your inbox for a confirmation email. Europe is investing in power grids that save consumers money and easily handle surges from wind and solar sources — features  critical to curbing climate change and cutting the Continent's reliance on coal But these electricity networks of the future also create big risks So-called smart grids and smart meters expose the power supply to cyber threats that could lead to power outages during the depths of winter or batter the components of the electricity system so badly that repairs take ages “Technology becomes your Achilles heel if you don’t do the right things,” said Nuno Medeiros information systems officer at Portugal’s power distribution company EDP Distribuição "Every component in the grid that has become digitized is becoming an attack point” — Sander Kruese “Ukraine became such a big story because it was the first attack in the energy sector,” said Michael John, director at the European Network for Cyber Security a non-government group that focuses on the safety of Europe’s grids and infrastructure with member countries investing in smart technology meant to reconfigure Europe's power networks but experts say Europe needs to do more to ensure it is ready to withstand cyber attacks Smart grids allow power networks to deal with the uneven electricity produced by renewables These grids allow homeowners generating some of their own power to switch between drawing from the grid and selling into it Smart meters allow customers to monitor their electricity usage and take advantage of price differences to cut costs All of that is crucial to lowering energy demand and allowing the world to reduce the need for coal-fired electricity and meet the goals of the Paris climate change agreement The EU wants to have about 200 million electricity smart meters rolled out by 2020. The European Commission has been a strong advocate for the smartening of Europe's grids and homes. If its most recent legislative proposals are accepted by national governments every consumer will have the right to ask their energy supplier for a smart meter The move goes hand in hand with European utilities' efforts to digitize grids and interact with customers in a dynamic way Some countries are choosing "dumber" models out of security fears | Sean Gallup/Getty Images "Citizens are central to the successful uptake of low-carbon innovative solutions, from smart meters in their homes to large-scale wind farms," according to the Commission The idea is that more empowered consumers and smarter grids will lead to a more efficient use of energy and more green energy flowing through Europe's power networks But as things get smarter and people get more connected "Every component in the grid that has become digitized is becoming an attack point,” said Sander Kruese, privacy and security adviser at Alliander a distribution system operator in the Netherlands Cyber attacks could bring down whole grids something that could even kill people if it happens in winter That's the scenario of the 2012 German best-selling novel “Blackout” by Marc Elsberg which portrays a dystopian nightmare after the collapse of the electricity grid triggers telecommunications problems Those scenarios aren't far-fetched to experts “Imagine a situation where hackers find a way to switch off the grid but in such a way that the [affected] components get destroyed,” said John of the European Network for Cyber Security “That would mean a lot of replacement work which means power could not be restored so fast.”  It's going to be a growing problem. The U.S. is projected to see the number of smart meters installed climb from 65 million in 2015 (about half of all households) to 90 million by 2020, the Edison Foundation's Institute for Electric Innovation reported almost 72 percent of European consumers are expected to have the meters EU member governments were allowed to carry out a cost-benefit analysis to see whether a mass smart meter roll-out made sense while seven others (including Belgium and Germany) found that the benefits of introducing them for all households wasn't proven countries such as Germany also found that the meters are economically justified for certain groups of customers the millions of smart meters installed in homes are a tempting target for hackers That's why some countries are choosing "dumber" models out of security fears The meters that really worry security experts are those that can be remotely switched off The dangers range from leaving a single house in the dark to causing a widespread blackout by switching smart meters on and off repeatedly whose company distributes power to about a third of Dutch households “If you get control of the grid by getting control of the smart meters The Netherlands has opted for smart meters without the remote switch-off option “because they saw this threat,” Kruese said the government has asked the GCHQ intelligence agency to help design security for smart meters — a proactive move for a country that wants to install 53 million smart meters by 2020 "If somebody could hack into that or turn off very large numbers of meters by mistake, the sudden shock of taking them off the grid — even worse if they were all turned back on at the same time — would cause significant damage," technology consultant Nick Hunn said in September during testimony before a parliamentary committee looking into smart meters Utilities, regulators and governments across the EU aren't oblivious to the threat, but it is proving difficult to coordinate a response. One of the problems is that there is no EU-wide consensus on the minimum range of capabilities required for smart meters which also makes talk on security requirements more challenging Authorities need to assess the risks and how to test for them European utilities should try to harmonize security standards for the meters, said Thomas Weisshaupt, chairman of the privacy and security working group in ESMIG an association representing smart energy companies and the threats haven’t been too oriented toward companies in Europe” — Nuno Medeiros information systems officer at EDP Distribuição One challenge in developing a coordinated response is a lack of trust Authorities find it hard to share information about their vulnerabilities making it difficult to pass on lessons learned from past hacks There is reluctance to go public with attacks since that may tarnish a company’s reputation It could also alert other hackers to a vulnerable network “If you go to the public and share the problem you had you could become a target again," Kruese said Some countries are doing better than others and France are at the forefront of the energy cybersecurity battle We need to have the same level of cybersecurity across Europe.” there have only been a few reports of hacks of grids and smart meters but that's more the result of chance than ironclad security measures and the threats haven’t been too oriented toward companies in Europe,” he said The growing carbon footprint of the ICT sector is challenging the EU’s green ambitions The EU’s Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans on Monday said he opposed a decision to eject the United Kingdom from the North Sea Energy Cooperation platform and … ‘The UK can no longer be invited to meetings,’ the Commission wrote The killing of a senior Iranian general is raising fears of a global price rise Company launches second German cloud region Google has launched a new cloud region in Berlin “The Google Cloud region in Berlin-Brandenburg is now ready for customer use “The Berlin-Brandenburg region serves Google Cloud customers with local cloud capacity to scale their workloads and satisfy important in-country disaster recovery requirements.” The cloud and search company first announced plans for a Berlin region in September 2021. Last year it bought a 30-hectare site in the Schenkendorf area of Mittenwalde A commercial area in Neuenhagen to the east of Berlin was previously under discussion but local reports suggest it was ruled out due to the lack of necessary cooling water “The opening of the Berlin-Brandenburg region is great news for our joint solution with Google as well as for Europe’s digital sovereignty Our unique proposition brings together European values for data and the innovative potential of Google’s global network – and is growing it with a new cloud region,” said Adel Al-Saleh member of the Deutsche Telekom AG Board of Management and CEO of T-Systems Google opened a cloud region in Frankfurt in 2017 Google Cloud now has 38 regions and 115 zones we at Deutsche Börse Group are setting new standards for cloud innovation within the financial services industry With Google Cloud as our preferred partner the availability of the new Google Cloud region in Berlin-Brandenburg together with the existing region in Frankfurt allows us to use two fully resilient and locally accessible cloud regions with the highest German security standards for our services,” said Hinrich Völcker Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia