The Pacific northwest has all of that delicious, cheap, reliable, non-polluting hydroelectric power. It's really a logical location for regional data centers, and Google is far from the only company making that same decision.

I agree with you, I'm not seeing the big draw of California, especially given the much more expensive electricity plus greater earthquake risk.

having spent considerable time in the Los Angeles datacenter market I am insanely curious where they're putting these 3 zones. I am guessing El Segundo/Hawthorne area, Wilshire Annex in downtown LA, and something in the Orange County area.