Data centres: Industry body calls for timeline on energy policy

Digital Infrastructure Ireland says we could miss out on investment if CRU does not clarify proposed new regulatory framework

In February, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities published a proposal on rules for connecting data centres to the electricity grid but a final decision on this has yet to be made.

Industry body Digital Infrastructure Ireland has called on the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to release a firm timeline on its policy for data centres saying Ireland could “miss the next phase of investment into digital developments”.

With the increasing investment in AI infrastructure, many multinational tech companies are massively scaling up their data centre capacity. However, data centres require a significant amount of energy and concerns have been raised about their increasing demand on Ireland’s electricity network and contribution to carbon emissions.