Minister was told data centres are 'indispensable' ahead of Dáil debate on country's energy use

Meta's data centre in Clonee, Co. Meath. Data centre electricity usage jumped by more than 30% in 2022 compared to the previous year, the CSO said. File picture: Niall Carson/PA

Data centres play an “indispensable role in our economy and society” and the growth in their energy consumption in recent years is largely due to “existing centres increasing their consumption”, a note for a minister said this week.

A briefing note prepared for Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan, ahead of questions he would face in the Dáil, said the Government has adopted a “rational approach” to data centres despite criticism that this is at odds with our environmental goals.

It came in the same week that new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that 18% of metred electricity in 2022 was used by data centres, the same percentage as urban homes.

Data centre electricity usage jumped by more than 30% in 2022 compared to the previous year, the CSO said. There are roughly 70 data centres in operation in Ireland, with another 30 in planning. This compares to around 2.2 million homes using metered electricity.

While data centre electricity usage has grown significantly, the opposite is true of homes. In 2022, urban homes reduced their usage by 10%, with rural homes using 9% less than the year before.

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Last year, Eirgrid ruled out new data centres in and around Dublin until 2028, while the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) said in late 2021 that it would impose a moratorium on new ones if it deemed necessary to do so.

The briefing note was prepared for Mr Ryan ahead of questions in the Dáil around Ireland’s energy policies on Thursday.

Electricity consumption by data centres increased by 31% in 2022https://t.co/9BgqjeveUm#CSOIreland #Ireland #Environment #EnergyUse #Energy #BusinessEnergyUse #Business #EnvironmentalAccounts #EnergyConsumption #Climate pic.twitter.com/GyhZAAVahw

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) June 12, 2023

It references the Government’s statement on data centres published in July 2022, which it said “recognises the significant capacity constraints on the electricity system in the short-to-medium term, and the need for decarbonisation of our energy system”.

The briefing note said: “Data centres are core digital infrastructure and play an indispensable role in our economy and society. Government policy seeks to enable the ‘twin transitions’ of digitalisation and decarbonisation of our economy and society. These transitions can - and must be - complementary.” 

It adds Government policy provides for a “rational approach” that allows data centres to connect to the grid without compromising on Ireland’s emissions targets.

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In a section of the note around what Eirgrid is doing to manage the power usage at data centres, the minister was told no new data centre connections have been approved by Eirgrid since July 2020 and applications for connection are considered on a case-by-case basis.

It said while data centre electricity consumption has grown, “this is due to the existing centres increasing their consumption, in line with their contracted ramp-ups, or data centres with pre-existing connection agreements to the electricity grid”.

Another section, cited by Mr Ryan in response to Labour leader Ivana Bacik, centred on excess heat from a data centre being used to power public buildings. In Tallaght, excess energy from an Amazon data centre will be used to heat Tallaght Hospital, the briefing said.

The minister told the Dáil that “there is major potential in this”.