Data centres now use as much power as all urban homes

Construction work in progress on a data centre at Little Island, Cork. There are around 70 data centres currently in operation in Ireland.

Ireland’s current industrial policy cannot be squared with environmental goals, a leading energy expert has said, with data centres now using as much electricity as all the homes in Irish cities and towns.

It comes as Eirgrid announced an amber alert on the electricity grid due to low wind power generation.